


Super Wonder Devil Agents

by Athingor3



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Amazons - Freeform, Canon-Typical Violence, Epic Hangover, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Themyscira (DCU)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-05-30 16:53:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15101033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athingor3/pseuds/Athingor3
Summary: Miranda can't for the life of her figure out how she came to be entertaining Ambassador Diana Prince in her living room.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this on my computer for a while now and honest-to-god I have no idea what the hell it is. In fact, for the longest time that was its name "I Don't Know What the Hell This Is." All I can say is that I had to write it because the first scene amused me so much. Then I couldn't stop. I have the rest of it written but not edited yet. So if you all like it, I'll post the rest. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Miranda Priestly was, for all her fame, a very private woman.  For that reason alone, she herself could not explain how she happened to be drinking her finest cognac with Ambassador Diana Prince, a total stranger, in the living room of the townhouse she had shared with Andrea for almost a year.  The ambassador and editor had been at a charity function, one of Donatella Versace’s pet projects and Tella had told her that Diana needed to speak with her about a private matter and would she please do this favor for her.  In their twenty-five years of friendship, Tella had asked for exactly one other favor.  What could she do?

So Diana Prince was sitting in one of her Queen Anne chairs in front of the fireplace in a diaphanous silver gown that made her look like a Greek goddess.  It was made to inspire thoughts of togas with an empire waist of silver bead work, and enough diamond accessories between the choker, earrings and necklace to make Harry Winston himself turn and look.  The silver cuffs at her wrists made one think of ancient warrior women.  Miranda would be much happier if she could just name the designer, but it escaped her.  She knew she’d never seen this work before; exquisite as it was, she would have remembered it.

“Ambassador, I must tell you that I am embarrassed to say I cannot name the designer of your dress.”

“Please, Miranda.  You must call me Diana.  There’s no need to be so formal.”  Miranda’s only response was a slight nod of her head.  Diana continued, “I would be truly surprised if you could name the designer.  This is somewhat of an heirloom.  It belonged to my mother.  It was made for her long ago for a party such as the one tonight.  It brings me pleasure to have reminders of my family around me when I cannot be with them.”  Diana’s voice was lyrical with an accent that Miranda could not place.  Her speech patterns were almost more proper than Miranda’s own.

“I’m afraid they didn’t tell me what country you serve.”

“I do more work for the United Nations now than I do for Themyscira.”

“That’s a beautiful name.”

“But you have no idea where it is,” Diana said smiling kindly.

Miranda smiled in return.  “No.”  It struck her then that Diana’s smile was reminiscent of a smile she saw everyday.  Perhaps that explained it.  This woman had a light like her Andrea.  She would guess Diana to be around Andrea’s age.  Perhaps that was why Miranda had abandoned good sense.

“It’s of little importance,” Diana said vaguely.

“If I may be so bold, what is important?  What is this private matter which we need to discuss?  More cognac?”

“No.  No thank you but it is delightful.  Very complex.  I taste vanilla, black truffle, a hint of cigars, and passionfruit, I think?”

“Yes.  It was a gift from Tella.  I’m very fond of it.  Not very many people are able to pick out the passionfruit.  It’s very subtle.”

“One day I’d very much like to introduce you to a cognac made for me.  I think you would enjoy it very much.”

Miranda waited for the rest.

Diana began, “I…”

At that moment the front door opened and Andrea called out not expecting anyone but Miranda to be home.  “Miranda, are you home?  La Guardia is a madhouse.  There’s some storm over Atlanta and that means that any Delta flight on the eastern seaboard is delayed which means all the connecting flights were delayed.  I was lucky to get out when I did.  I had to threaten them with the fear of La Priestly so…”

As Andrea entered the room Diana stood and opened her arms.  Andrea saw her and immediately ran into them.  Diana picked Andrea up off the floor and twirled her around as if she weighed nothing.  There were sweet murmurings in, was that Greek?  Miranda caught something that sounded like misí kardiá mou.  She knew enough Greek to understand “my heart”.  Jealousy burned through Miranda like a forest fire, no like a chemical factory explosion.  Then Diana put Andrea back on the floor, held her head in her hands, and kissed her cheeks then her forehead.

As she smiled and hugged Diana fiercely, Andrea said, “Mother, mother what are you doing here?”

Miranda dropped her glass of cognac.  It shattered on the floor. 

The pair turned to her and Diana smiled at the look of shock on Miranda’s face.  “Andy, you need to help your lover.  Perhaps into one of the chairs by the fire?  I’ll clean up this glass.  Such a shame.  The cognac was very good.”

Andy put her arm around Miranda’s waist and helped her into the chair.  “The housekeeper’s pantry is just inside the kitchen in the hallway to the laundry room.  First door on the left.”

Diana nodded and left them alone.

Miranda looked up and asked softly, “Mother?”

“Yeah, uh, I guess I have some explaining to do.”

“That is perhaps the understatement of the year,” Miranda said with a soupçon of her normal venom.

“There’s my girl.”

“How…” Miranda hated that she had no idea what exactly to ask, where even to begin.

Diana walked back into the room looking entirely at home carrying a broom, dustpan and rag.  She swept up the debris and wiped up the cognac.  Then noticing her audience looked at Andy and said, “Start with your mum,” and walked back out of the room.

Andy looked back at Miranda.  “My biological mother was a WASP in World War II.  Well, she did many things, but at the time she crash-landed on my mother’s island, she was in the Women’ Air Service Pilots.  They ferried damaged planes back to England to be repaired.  My mum was one of their most daring pilots and she took longer missions than most.  I think it’s because she had lost her lover, my father, and still wanted to help the war effort but didn’t really care if she died.”

“Andrea, that’s impossible.  That would make you…”

“I’m fifteen years older than you are.”

“How is that possible?

“Time passes very differently on Themyscira.  Even for humans.”

“But you’d be…”

“I’ll be sixty-six my next birthday.”

And as astonishing as that statement was, what Andrea had said finally landed.  “Humans?  What else is there?”

Diana said from the doorway, “There are the Amazons.  I am Diana, daughter of Queen Hippolyta, Princess of Themyscira and one of the many Amazons who live on the island.”

Miranda thought there was a very good chance that she was hallucinating.  Perhaps she had fallen asleep by the fire.  She pinched herself very hard.

“Why do they always do that?”

“I think it’s an old wives tale, Mother.”

“I’ve never liked that expression.  It seems to diminish women somehow.”

“Yes, Mother.”

Miranda looked at Andrea’s sheepish expression.  Clapping her hand over her mouth she then trailed it down her neck to fidget with her necklace.  “She _is_ your mother.  Cassidy and Caroline look the same when I admonish them.”

Diana smiled.  “Yes, this one never could feign her way through trouble.  It always showed clearly on her face.  I was much more mischievous as a child.  I went through an astonishing number of tutors.”

“She cannot lie now either.  At least I hadn’t thought so until this evening.”  Miranda searched Andrea’s eyes for more deceit.

“Please, do not let this change that impression.  She was protecting us.”

“So you were raised by an amazon but you are human.”

“Yes.”

Diana cleared her throat softly.

“As far as I know I’m human, but I can hold my own in the training arena with anyone except Mother.  So she and I have always suspected that my father must not have been entirely human.”

“Your other mother never told you?”

“Mum, is…very…English.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re English.  You know,” Andrea responded with a look on her face that said she really shouldn’t have had to say anything at all.

Miranda huffed, “Well.”

Diana laughed.  “Your mum wears that same expression when she’s upset.  But I wouldn’t attribute that to the fact they are both English.  My friend Etta was very expressive and very English.  Your mum is simply a more guarded person.” At Andy’s look she finished, “And there’s nothing wrong with that.  She loves you very much.”

“I know,” Andy said sounding very much like a petulant child who had heard all this before.  

“She is why I’m here.  She needs to see you.”

“The only way I’m going to see her is if she’s ready to tell me about my father.”

“That’s why she sent me.”

“Why didn’t she come herself?”

“She can’t travel right now.  She’s been unwell.”

“What’s wrong with her,” Andy asked urgently.

“She’s fine,” Diana reassured her.  “As much as it pains her to admit, she’s not as young, or as fast, as she used to be.  Beating up three assailants took its toll.”

“Andrea, that would make your mother…”

“She turns ninety-two years old next Tuesday.”

“Ninety-two and fighting off assailants,” Miranda said in a lost voice.

“We would love to have you come visit.  All of you.  I’m having a surprise party for her.”  Diana smiled.

“Mother, I don’t think the girls could keep this kind of secret.  They are only fourteen after all.”

“You and Miranda then.  I had hoped to meet them but I will do as you wish.”

“We can introduce you as…Diana, but they are with their father until tomorrow evening.”

“I think not.  There’s no need to complicate this further.  I do not wish to lie to them.  Will you both come?”

Andrea looked at Miranda.  Then turned back to Diana.  “I think we have some things to discuss before I can answer you.”

“I am sorry to, what is the phrase?  ‘Spring this’? On you both, but as you can see there is some urgency.  And selfishly, I’ll admit that I very much wanted to meet you, Miranda.  I wanted to see who had captivated my daughter’s heart so completely.”

“And will talk about that as well, Mother.”

“Yes, of course we will.  With that, I will take my leave.  Walk me out, Andy?”

“Of course.”

“Miranda, no matter what you decide, I enjoyed meeting you very much.  Please forgive my subterfuge, and Donatella had no idea so please don’t blame her.”

Miranda could only nod.

Andrea walked Diana to the door and whatever goodbyes were said, Miranda didn’t hear them.  She walked back into the room and leaned against the door jam, her right foot crossed over her left and propped up on the toes and her arms crossed almost protectively over her chest.  “Do you want to ask questions or do you want me to try to explain more?”

“I’m going to need a moment.”  Miranda stood.

“Miranda,” Andrea started.

“No.  I’m going to get out of this dress and take a bath.  Give me enough time to do that and then we’ll talk.”

“Okay.”

Thirty minutes later it didn’t seem like Miranda was any closer to leaving the bathroom.  Andy paced worriedly back and forth in their bedroom. 

“Andrea, I can hear you out there.  You might as well come inside.  You’re making so much noise I cannot concentrate anyway.”

“Sorry,” Andrea said once she was seated on a chair inside the bathroom.

Miranda waved her hand.

“Are you angry?”

“No.”

“You seem angry.”

“No.  I am not angry.  This particular emotion could best be described as ‘hurt.’”

“Oh.”

“Yes.  ‘Oh.’  I’ve spent the last little while running all the times I’ve worried about your youth over in my head.  I’ve always been worried that I would leave you too soon.  Now even though you are older, it seems more of an eventuality than ever.”

“Miranda…”

“It is a lot to think over.”

Andrea bowed her head.  “We have a long while before we have to face that Miranda.”

“Were you ever going to tell me?  If your mother had not arranged this, were you going to tell me?”

Andrea looked up and said, “Yes.  I’ve wanted to many times but it’s complicated.  I just recently got permission from the Senate to tell you.”

“This is hardly a congressional matter.”

“The senate on Themyscira.  All outsiders who know must be approved.”

“I see.  When did you receive this permission?”

Andrea bowed her head again before pausing then raising her eyes to meet Miranda’s head on and answering, “Six months ago.”

“Six months, and we’ve been together two years.”  There didn’t seem to be anything to say so Andy didn’t try.  Miranda asked, “What were you afraid of?”

“Everything.  Miranda, you and the girls are everything to me.  I was afraid that you’d think I was insane or that it would change how you feel about me.”

“Andrea, the fact that you were afraid that anything you could tell me about yourself would change how I feel about you just goes to show how inadequate my communication skills are.”

Andrea sighed.  “It’s not like that.”

“Have you ever told anyone before?”

“No. Not ever.”

“And you were with cook-boy how long?”

“Five years.”

Miranda seemed mollified by that.  “Tell me about your island.”

Andrea’s smile was radiant.  “It’s wonderful.  It’s paradise.  I miss it so much sometimes.”

“When was the last time you went home?”

“This is my home, Miranda.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Before we began dating.”

“And before that?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Andrea, if my girls only saw me every few years I can tell you it would matter a great deal to me.”

“I know.  It’s just that Mum and I, we don’t…well I…I want to know who my father was and she’s refused to tell me.  I left home a little over ten years ago, traveled a bit then enrolled in college and you know the rest.”

“How are you so, so, you?”

Andy laughed.  “Thank you for not saying naïve.”

“That’s not a bad thing, darling.”

“It’s not always good.”

“Besides, that’s not what I meant.  I meant pure, unsullied.”

“The island is a very different place.  Very different from man’s world.”

“Man’s world?”

“Yes.  Themyscira is inhabited only by women.”

“Oh, my.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miranda and Andrea travel to Themyscira. Andrea introduces Miranda to the baths.

Miranda tried very hard not to wiggle in her seat like an excited child.  Andrea was piloting a small sea plane (and who knew she could do that?) in some of the densest fog she had ever seen.  After Diana left, they made arrangements for the trip and excuses to the girls with promises of gifts upon their return.  They had talked, and talked, and talked some more about this mysterious island and Andrea’s mothers.  Once the dam was breached it seemed that Andrea could not _stop_ talking about it.  Miranda tucked the little tidbits away in her heart to guard them.  Pieces of Andrea.

Still, she did not know what to expect of this island.  Andrea had a habit of looking only at the positive side of things.  Things could not be as she had explained them.  And when she had asked about this training arena business, Andrea had smirked and said, “You’ll see.”

The one topic she was reticent to wax on about was her biological mother.  Miranda knew what she considered sufficient information about Diana.  Well, as much as one can know about a demigod.  In an ironic twist of fate, Diana’s mother, Queen Hippolyta had kept her parentage from her as well and while Diana certainly seemed to sympathize with her daughter, she either wouldn’t or couldn’t divulge the secret.  

Andrea’s English mother had her love but Miranda knew there was a rift between them, one Andrea had initiated.   Andrea would tense when Miranda asked questions about her.  Where she was from, where she was stationed.  So Miranda stopped.  Contrary to popular belief, when need be Miranda could be the most patient person on earth.  You can’t hatch a scheme as intricate as some of hers had been without infinite patience.  She would wait.  She could not imagine anyone wanting to harm Andrea but if this woman had anything other than Andrea’s best in mind, Miranda would crush her like a bug.

Andrea interrupted her thoughts, “We’re here.”

Miranda looked around in the fog.  “Darling, I don’t see anything but I’m going to trust you know what you’re doing.”

“That’s what I love about you.”

“What?”

“You don’t trust anyone but you trust me.”

Miranda hummed in response and then as the fog parted her mouth dropped open.  There in front of her was the most beautiful lagoon and beach, rocks jutting out of the water fifty feet high.  The water was almost…cerulean.  “So that’s why…”

“Why what?”

“Your attachment to that hideous sweater.”

“I’m attached to that hideous sweater because you dressed me down in it and made me weak in the knees.  I picked it out in the first place because it reminded me of here a bit.”

“Hmm.”

“You know, I looked up your little speech.  Not a word of it was true.”

“I have no idea what you mean.  Honestly, Andrea am I supposed to keep track of absolutely every comment I’ve ever made to you?”

Andrea laughed.  “No, Miranda.”  Then piloted them expertly to land on the lagoon.  

As Andrea steered them toward a dock, Miranda noticed women dressed like warriors riding up on horseback.  Before she knew it a few had leapt down and were running down the dock to help secure the plane.  They were all shapes and sizes and what Miranda would have called ethnicities but she wasn’t sure that word applied here on Themyscira.  

Andrea looked at her seriously and said, “Gird your loins.”  Of all the unmitigated cheek.  She knew that’s what Nigel was fond of telling her minions.

“Really, Andrea,” she replied.  Andrea simply grinned in response.

Andrea looked at her seriously then and said, “Just be yourself, okay?  Nothing more and certainly, nothing less.”

Miranda nodded.

Then Andrea was up and opening the door.  Three women rushed in and picked Andrea up and carried her bodily from the plane and threw her in the lagoon.  Miranda was up in an instant poking her head out the door to see if she was okay.  To her left a broad older woman whose skin was a dark rich color said, “She’s fine.  This is their ritual.  She’ll best them soon enough.”

Miranda watched in fascination as Andrea flipped one of her tormentors into the water over her back.  Then she reached up onto the dock and grabbed the foot of another who in turn grabbed the last one and both of them plummeted into the clear water.  Then it was a free-for-all for a few moments as they all grappled with one another.  Andrea disappeared under the water and then reappeared holding three different feet as the women were tugged under.  Eventually, they all were back upright and hugging one another.

With her arms slung over two of the women, completely drenched and smiling from ear to ear, Andrea said, “Miranda, this is Narcissa,” she squeezed the woman under her left arm.  “This is Calliope,” she said squeezing the woman on her right.  Letting her go, she then embraced the last woman with her right arm and said, “This is Astraea.  I see you’ve already met Artemis.”  She nodded at the woman to Miranda’s left.

Miranda looked around at all of them and said very properly, “Hello.”

One of the women in the water threw her head back and laughed.  “Oh, I’m going to like you very much.  I just know it.  No one calls me Narcissa.  They all call me Cis or Cissy.”  She pulled herself up on the dock by pushing down on her hands forcefully.  Water streamed off her body and her now form-fitting clothes.  There was no trace of modesty or shame.  Miranda had been around models all her adult life but this was something different.  Something more powerful.  Narcissa pointed to each of them in turn, “Callie, Astra, Artie.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Miranda replied.

“I’m sorry we dragged Andy out like that before we introduced ourselves.  It’s been far too long since she’s been home and we’ve been waiting to do that for ages.”

“Understandable.”

Andy laughed and pulled herself up onto the dock.  “Of course you’ve taken their side.”

“I simply do not wish the same treatment.”

At this everyone but Miranda laughed.  Artemis replied, “I was here to make sure that didn’t happen.”

Miranda paled but Andy took pity on her.  “Artie is kidding, honey.  They don’t do it to strangers, just to me.  I am wondering though why you didn’t seem more worried.”

“You were winning,” Miranda replied evenly.  Then, “and even when you weren’t, you looked like you were having fun.”

Andy smiled and kissed her cheek, careful not to get Miranda wet.  “C’mon we have to change before dinner with my parents tonight.”

“Already?”

“Yes.  You’re going to have an honest to gods Themysciran bath.  As much as you love baths, I can’t wait to see what you think of this.”  Andy started walking backward down the dock.  “C’mon.’

“What about our luggage?”

“That’s what they’re here for.” Andy gestured to the other women.  “They promise to get your couture to the villa.  Don’t you, girls?”

“Yes,” they answered in unison.

Andrea held out her hand.  “Let me show you where I grew up.”  Miranda took it.

Andrea escorted her up a path and over a ridge and Miranda was amazed.  The landscape in every direction was breathtaking.  Andrea was pointing out sites of interest, the training grounds, the amphitheater, the different buildings and their purpose.  With each passing moment Andrea became more and more animated.  Finally, they reached an entrance to a cave.

“The baths are this way,” Andrea said as she gently tugged on Miranda’s hand.

“Andrea, I will not disrobe in some dank, dark place.”

Andrea laughed.  “Honey, you’re going to love it.  I promise.  I wouldn’t take you somewhere I knew you wouldn’t enjoy.”

“Wouldn’t you?  What about that...that game.”

“Miranda!  It was the Superbowl.  Everybody watches the superbowl.  You were in a luxury box.  You didn’t even have to watch the game if you didn’t want to.  Besides, I certainly couldn’t afford tickets to the superbowl.  You got those yourself.”

“You said you’d never been and you wanted to go.”

“So let’s not take something sweet you did for me and make me feel bad about it.  Okay?”  Andrea continued to lead Miranda into the darkened opening.

Miranda looked around anxiously.  “It’s safe?”

“I will protect you.”

“That is not incredibly comforting.”

“I’m a trained Amazon warrior.”

“When I met you, you could barely walk in heels.”

“Hey, warriors don’t need heels!”

“Your mother seems to wear them well enough.”

“She’s had longer to practice.”

Miranda was about to make a snarky comment when the chamber they were in opened up into a larger cavern.  There was this ghostly ambient light and after a moment Miranda registered that it was coming from the water.  The water was glowing like a swimming pool at night, except the water streaming from upper pools to lower ones was glowing too.  Miranda was trying to come up with a nice rational explanation of why this was happening when she noticed Andrea was in the middle of disrobing.

“Andrea?”

“No one will bother us.  Get out of those clothes and take a real bath with me.”

“Am I to understand this is a communal bath?”

“Well, yeah, but they won’t bother us.  It’s considered rude to not show hospitality to a traveler.  Hospitality includes baths.  And while we as a people are not very modest, we try to take into account that visitors from man’s world sometimes have different ideas.”

“Your English mother schooled them on that did she?”

“Mum?  Mum was in the war.  I think she’s less modest than Mother, who would walk around naked if my grandmother didn’t object.”

“Your grandmother is still alive?”

“Yes,” Andrea answered hesitantly.

“Of course she is,” Miranda muttered under her breath.

“Hey,” Andrea said and waited until Miranda looked at her.  “You’re in a place you’ve never been before.  They don’t fear strong women here.  You have nothing to worry about.  Strong personalities are celebrated.  They’re going love you.”  Then Andrea began to slip Miranda’s top out of her casual slacks.  “Now, let me wash your hair.”

Miranda could think of five good reasons to stop Andrea from removing her clothes here.  Andrea leaned down and kissed her.  _Well, maybe four, definitely at least three._ Andrea moved to her jaw and then her ear. _What was the question?_

“C’mon.  Let’s take a bath.’

Miranda looked down and saw that she had been divested of all her clothing.  “Why, pray tell, have we never tried this at home?”

“Umm, I thought it would freak you out?”

“It doesn’t.”

“Noted.  Now can we please take a bath?”

“Yes, darling.”

Andrea led her up a few steps by the hand and got into the water first.  She helped Miranda lower herself into the water.  Andrea sat and gestured for Miranda to sit between her legs.  The water was warm but not uncomfortable.  It seemed more viscous to Miranda.  She ran her hand over the surface slowly.

“It’s the minerals.  It’s denser than regular water.  Tilt your head back,” Andrea said.  Miranda complied.  Andrea poured water over Miranda’s hair and wet it thoroughly, then poured water all over Miranda.  It was as sensual as it was relaxing.  Over and over again, the water was poured over her body and with each pass Miranda felt the tension and stress leave.  Her muscles were languid.  It felt as if she was floating.

Miranda heard Andrea gathering something and then Andrea’s hands were in her hair working it into a lather.  It smelled of vanilla and bergamot.  Andrea’s fingers worked over her scalp.  Not using her nails but the pads of her fingers to gently scratch Miranda’s scalp.  Miranda hummed in pure pleasure.  Andrea continued to work the muscles of her neck and shoulders.  “Lean back again.”  Then she poured some more of that wonderful water over Miranda, her head, her neck, her shoulders, her chest.

“Andreaa.”

“Yes, Miranda,” Andrea said as she cupped Miranda’s breasts.  “You wanted something?”

“If we’re interrupted by anyone, we’re not having sex again on this island,” Miranda whispered.

Andrea laughed lightly.  “Okay.  We’ll see how _that_ plays out.  No one will interrupt us though.”

“They better not,” Miranda said as she reached behind her, grabbed the back of Andrea’s head, and kissed her senseless.

Andrea’s right hand slid down Miranda’s body and cupped her with it as her left cradled her breast.  Miranda began to undulate almost against her will.  “I will never get enough of you, Miranda.  Never.  You are the sexiest woman I have ever met.  I can barely keep my hands off of you.  Oh, you’re so wet,” Andrea said as she slid her fingers inside Miranda’s labia.  “Does this feel good?”

“Yesss.”

“What do you want?”

“Inside. Go inside.”

“Like this,” Andrea asked as she slid three fingers home.

“Oh, God!”

“I want to hear you, Miranda.  I want to hear you.  Let me hear you.”

“Don’t stop.  Oh, God.  Don’t stop, Andreeaaa.”  Miranda’s body was on fire.  She could not remember being this ready this fast ever, even when she and Andrea were new.

“What do you want?”

“Harder!  I want it harder.”  Andrea started to fuck her earnestly with her fingers.  Miranda was being pressed back into Andrea, surrounded by Andrea.  It was too much.  The edges of her vision started to blur.  She screamed when she came and then succumbed to the darkness.

As Miranda slowly came back to herself she became aware of Andrea placing delicate kisses along the back of her neck.  “Hey there, sleeping beauty.  You back?”  Miranda could feel the smile against the skin of her neck.

“Smug doesn’t suit you, Andrea.”

“Really?  I think it looks pretty damn good myself.”

“Hmm.”

“Are you ready to finish our bath?”

“What about you, darling?”

“I…uh…” at the tremor in Andrea’s voice Miranda turned her head, “came when you did,” Andrea finished blushing furiously.

“Oh, Andrea,” Miranda said softly.

“Let’s not make a big deal about it.”

“You’re especially beautiful when you’re flushed.”  Miranda caressed her cheek tenderly.

“We’ll just have to agree to disagree.”

“Darling, the fact that you want me the way that you do is…no one ever…I was never…enough.”

“They were fools, Miranda, but I’m glad they were.”  Andy kissed the side of her head.  “Let’s just finish our bath and go to the villa for the obnoxious amount of food they’ve left for us.”

“We’re not eating with your parents?”

“Later.  Themysciran dinner is on Greek time.  They would never want us to wait that late to eat.  Especially since we’ve been traveling.  So let’s finish our bath then go up to the villa?”

“Whatever you say, darling.”

“Wow.  I’m going to write this down.”

“Smug, Andrea.  Smug.  Unattractive.”

“Yes, Miranda.”  Andrea smiled.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miranda meets Andrea's mum and figures out who her father is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Folks, thanks soo much for the comments and the kudos! They are very lovely. I appreciate every single one of them.  
> I'm not tagging characters in this chapter only - because I like surprises. So, if you don't like surprises, (or maybe not a surprise because some of you have figured it out because you're smart like that) then I suggest you pick up when I post chp4 because by that time I'll have tagged almost everyone who'll be appearing in the story.  
> I so don't own any of these characters or worlds and make no money.  
> Reviews as previously stated are lovely, and much, much appreciated.

Andrea was right it was an obnoxious amount of food.  In the cave they had dressed in clothes that had been carefully laid out for them.  Miranda was pleased that they were of superior quality.  She kept running her hands over the stitching.  The dresses were not unlike the one Diana had worn in the townhouse, same style, but less formal.  When they got to their rooms they ate, then made love again, more slowly this time.  Miranda felt even more euphoric than usual.  Finally, they had done something Miranda almost never did, they napped.

Miranda woke more refreshed than she had been in a while.  “What is it about your island?  I feel different.”

Andrea smiled.  “Well, for starters you’re about ten to fifteen years younger than you were when you got here.  How long has your hair been white?”

“What?!”

“Look in the mirror, Miranda.”

Miranda hurried out of bed to the mirror in the corner of the room.  She confirmed that her hair was still white but the fine lines around her eyes were gone.  Her neck looked like it had in her thirties.  “My God!  Andrea!  What has happened?”

“Mum thinks it’s the mineral water.”

“Damn.”

“You’re upset?”

Miranda smirked.  “They’ll think I’m drinking the blood of the innocent.  Good God.  I look amazing.”

“Yes.  You.  Do,” Andrea said as she walked up behind her and slid her arms around her waist and her hands up to her breasts, “but I’ve always thought so.”

“A warning would have been nice.”

“I’ll remember that for next time.”  

“Does it always do that?  Make you younger.”

“Not always.”  Andrea trailed her palms over Miranda’s now erect nipples.

“Well, what...uh...does...Are we eating dinner with your parents?”

Andrea nuzzled her neck and murmured a muffled, “umhmm.”

“Then stop that.  I need to do my hair and I’m not going there smelling like an oversexed teenager.”

“Miranda, you’ve never given a damn what anyone thought before.”

“I’ve never met your parents before.”

“Fine,” Andrea said as she gave Miranda’s neck a noisy last kiss.  “But if I meet your parents, we’re handling it my way then.”

“Darling, as that is no longer a possibility, that’s fine.”

Andy rolled her eyes.  “Any member of your family then.”

“Of course, darling.  Whatever you say.”

“Gods, I could get used to you saying that.”

Miranda kissed her lips chastely.  “How should I dress for dinner?”

“Oh, I’m sure there’s something in the wardrobe here for each of us.  It’s tradition.”  Miranda had an enigmatic look on her face, one Andy couldn’t decipher.  “What is it?”

“No one ever picks out clothes for me.  I’m intrigued.”

“Well, at least if you purse your lips, no one here will have a nervous breakdown,” Andy laughed.

“Indeed.”

A little less than an hour later, Miranda walked into the bedroom putting on her opal earrings and Andrea got her first look at her.  She knew her mother had picked the dress because the blue matched Miranda’s eyes perfectly.  The dress was a plain sheath, the material gathered in silver clips on Miranda’s shoulders.  

Pleased with the look on Andrea’s face, Miranda asked, “Well?”

“You’d look good in a sack, Miranda but I think they did okay.”

“Okay?  That’s what you have to say?”

“You look magnificent and you know it.”

Miranda took the time then to look over Andrea’s dress.  It was black, off one shoulder and gathered at the waist.  “Speaking of magnificent, Andrea darling you look positively royal this evening.”

Andrea blushed.  “I…I kinda am here.”

“Of course.  I wasn’t thinking.  Is there something that I’m supposed to call you in public?  For propriety’s sake.”

“Andrea (Andy pronounced it the way Miranda did.  “Andrayah”) will be fine.  Everyone else here calls me Andy, except my mum.  She calls me Andrea (pronouncing it the way literally everyone Andy had ever met pronounced it before Miranda).”

“And when I see your mothers and grandmother?”

“Mother has already told you to call her Diana.  That goes here too.  Grandmother once you’re formally introduced, will be Queen Hippolyta or your Majesty then thereafter she can be referred to as ma’am.”

“And your mum?”

“Oh, I’m sure Mum will tell you exactly what to call her, but she doesn’t have a title here.  Well except for ‘the princess’ consort.’  She just loves that one.”

“Oh dear.”

“Yes.  Mother said that’s what she said about it the first time she heard it.  Ready for dinner?”   Andrea held out her arm.

“Darling, I was born ready.”

They entered Andrea’s parents living quarters into what Miranda assumed was the formal room.  It was tastefully decorated and while Miranda was somewhat nervous she couldn’t help being excited about what the evening would hold, a chance to know more about Andrea was enough reason to be enthusiastic rather than apprehensive.

“Mum!  Mother!  We’re here!”

Miranda heard a very English voice from the other side of a door on the far side of the room.  “Honestly, Andrea she’s going to think we raised you in a barn.  How many times do I have to tell you that we do not shout from room to room?”  A woman backed into the room carrying a tray.

Andrea laughed and went to help her with the tray.  “At least one more time, Mum.”  She kissed her on the cheek.  “It’s good to see you.  Mother said you weren’t feeling well.”  They stood there facing each other not looking at Miranda.

“Your mother is an old woman and she has a vivid imagination.  I am fine.  A few broken ribs.  We humans just need some healing time.”

“Mum, what did those men want?”

“Never you mind about that.  Now, introduce me to your girl.”

“I’m hardly a girl…” Miranda began but then realized she had no idea what to call her.  Andrea had never said her name.

“Miranda, let me introduce you to my mum…” Andy said but the woman turned finally and Miranda knew instantly who she was.  She looked to be a Miranda’s age.  Still so beautiful but with a bit more gray and a few more lines around her eyes.

“Margaret Carter,” Miranda said breathlessly.

“Call me Peggy.  If you call me Margaret, I’ll be forced to hurt you.”

“Miranda?  You know my mum?”

It all made sense to Miranda now.  It meant that Andrea’s father was…Miranda sat heavily in a chair.

“I see Harry passed along some of his secrets and mine it seems,” Peggy said.  “Get Miranda a drink, Andrea.  Some of your mother’s cognac.  Not her special stash.  If I serve that to Miranda without her here, she’ll never forgive me.”

“What’s going on?”

“The drink, Andrea.  Then I promise to tell you.  I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

Andrea left the room and Peggy said, “Harry Princhek was a good man.  I assume he told you about me?  And showed you some of his pictures?”

“Yes.”

“And you know about Andrea’s father don’t you?”

“Yes.  I think so.  Grandfather always called you Steve’s ‘best girl.’”

“And does Andrea know your real name?”

“Yes.”

“Good.  So it’s just my secrets then.”

“And the surname Sachs?”

“Unbeknownst to him, a distant cousin loaned it to Andrea when she decided to leave Themyscira.”

Andrea returned to the room with a drink for Miranda.  “Mum, Miranda what’s going on?”  She handed Miranda the drink which Miranda accepted gratefully.

“Miranda’s grandfather was a Howling Commando.  I served with him during the war.  He was always taking pictures.  He had his own darkroom.  He was quite talented, such an artist’s eye.” She said to Miranda, “I’m sure that’s where you get it.”

“We used to sit for hours and he would show me picture after picture telling me stories that were too fantastic to be believable.”

“Stories that included my mum?”

“Yes, and your father.”

“You know who my father was, Miranda?”

“I think I do, and if I’m right, I think I understand why your mum kept it from you.”

“You’ve known her for two seconds and you’re taking her side?!”

“Andrea, I’m always on your side darling,” Miranda said.

“Who was my father?!”

“Your father is Captain Steve Rogers of the United States Army,” Peggy replied calmly.  

“Steve Rogers.  Why does that sound familiar?”

“You never liked history,” Peggy sighed.

“Mum.”

“He’s better known as ‘Captain America.’”

“Captain America was my father?”  It was Andrea’s turn to sit down heavily in a chair.  Miranda handed her the rest of the cognac.  Andrea downed it in one gulp.

“Is, my darling.  I’ve only just found out that he’s alive.  He’s been found.”

“He’s alive?  Where?  When can I meet him?  Does he know I exist?”

“Yes.  In New York.  Soon.  I’ve sent your mother to bring him here.  Not yet.”

Miranda got up and went in search of more cognac.  She came back with the bottle and two glasses and Andrea and Peggy were both sitting on a settee holding a photo album.  Miranda gestured with the bottle, “I took the liberty.”

“Very sensible,” Peggy said.  Turning to Andrea, “I like her.  Have I said?”

“Not yet, Mum.”

Peggy patted the seat next to her.  “Come here, Miranda.  You might be interested in these.  I think I have a few pictures your grandfather took.”

Miranda sat down and looked at what Nigel would most definitely call a “before” picture regardless of context.  It was a picture of the quintessential 98lb weakling.  He had kind eyes.  “This is Captain Rogers?”

Peggy smiled.  “Not quite yet.  That’s private Rogers before Dr. Erskine created Captain America through a combination of VitaRays and his serum.”  Peggy pulled out a picture of a man in a lab coat with glasses and disheveled hair.

“He looks just like Nigel,” Miranda said.  “Of course Nigel would expire if anyone ever saw his hair like that.”

Andy looked down at the picture.  “I don’t see it.”

“That’s why you work as a journalist now, darling,” Miranda replied.

Peggy laughed.  “She keeps you on your toes does she?”

“You have no idea.”

“You never wanted to do anything the easy way.”

“Nope.  Got bored too easily.”  Andy took a drink of cognac and said, “So he was turned into the super soldier?”

“Yes.  Your father was selected by Dr. Erskine himself.  Abraham believed that the most important quality in the first subject would be his heart.  Steve tried to enlist dozens of times and was turned away every time as 4F.  All he wanted was to serve, to do his part.  

“The day we did the procedure, a German spy killed Dr. Erskine and destroyed the lab and all the serum samples, ensuring that your father was the only super soldier the Allies created.”

“Why?”

“No one could figure out how to duplicate the serum.  It was thought that possibly Steve’s blood was the secret.  It was one of the reasons the government searched for him so long.  They didn’t want anyone else getting their hands on his blood.

“It’s also the reason I kept you hidden away from the world and never told you any of this before.  You have some of those same properties in your blood.  Those men that attacked me were Hydra agents.  They were sent to find me and were expecting an old woman.  Well, a woman considerably older than I happen to look.  They wanted to use me as bait to draw your father out.  I’ve always suspected Hydra survived.  I do hate being right sometimes.”

“Mum, that’s crazy.  Nazis in the 21st century?”

“Darling, people’s capacity for ugliness stopped surprising me long ago,” Peggy responded.

“How much danger is Andrea in,” Miranda asked.

“I kept my pregnancy a secret.  No one but the women on this island even know she’s my daughter.  Until very recently, even your mother didn’t know your father’s identity.”

“When will mother be back?”

“Hopefully, tomorrow.  She’s been in New York all this time trying to locate him.  The current director of S.H.I.E.L.D. thought he could keep him a secret, but there are always leaks.  The Hydra attack just proved it.”

Andy asked, “Shield?”

“Yes...” Peggy said then her watch beeped.  “Ah, I need to get this.”  She stood and walked into the kitchen.

“Your mum must be quite the dedicated cook to set a watch alarm.”

Andrea laughed.  And laughed.  And laughed some more.  Wiping her eyes she said, “No, that was probably a phone call.  Mum can barely boil water for tea.  She can kill a man with a stapler though.”

“That might come in handy at the next budget meeting,” Miranda said arching an eyebrow.

“I don’t think you need that kind of knowledge, Miranda.  No one would believe you killed Irv by accident.”

“I’m sure that I could get a sympathetic jury.  That man falls in the category of crimes against nature.”

“Regardless, I’m telling mum not to show you anything.”

“You’re no fun.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andy finds out about her mum's past. Miranda and Peggy sit down and have a nice chat.

Peggy walked back into the room carrying a laptop.  “Andrea, I think you should see this.  This is your father.”  She handed Andrea the computer.

Miranda leaned closer to Andrea to see.  They watched Steve Rogers run into Times Square.  Andrea watched the scene intently, while Miranda watched Andrea whose big brown eyes were glazed over with tears.

Andrea asked Peggy, “Who are those men?”

“That,” Peggy pointed to the tall African-American man with an eyepatch “is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury and those,” she gestured to the black-clad men next to black SUVs, “are his agents. S.H.I.E.L.D. now stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.”

“What are they going to do to him?  He looks so confused,” Andrea said.

“I’m not sure.”

“They won’t hurt him will they?!”

“Very little can hurt your father.”  Peggy reached out and held Andrea’s hand.  “Your mother will have seen this by now.  This can only accelerate her finding him.  I trust her to do this, to keep him safe.  You should as well.”

“I do, Mum, I do, but he looked so lost, and they looked so…”

“Intimidating?  Yes.  They were supposed to.”

“Mum!  Is this…this is what you did?!  This is your ‘good work’ isn’t it?”

Peggy closed her eyes briefly and sighed, “Yes.”

“And what is S.H.I.E.L.D.?  what do they do?”

“They monitor and protect the world from threats.”

“And how do they do that?”

“There is a certain clandestine aspect to it as well as a trained military force.”

Andrea stood up and started pacing.  Miranda knew that was a bad sign.  “All these years, you worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.?  You were a spy?”

“Worked is…yes I worked for them.  I was director for a time when you were very young.”  

“And Mother knows?”

“Yes.  Your mother knows everything.”

“What does she think?”

“That’s between your mother and me.”

Andrea looked as if she was going to say something.  “I’m going for a run to clear my head.  Will you make sure Miranda gets back to our villa?”

“I’ll come…” Miranda began.

“No.  I need to be alone.  I’ll see you later tonight.”

And with that she was gone.  Hoping that Andrea would rethink it and come back, Miranda watched the doorway for a second not exactly sure of what was happening.  She turned to Peggy.  “What the hell is going on?”

“Would you like another cognac, Miranda?”  Peggy held up the decanter.

“No.  I want to know what’s wrong with my…Andrea.”

“Your Andrea.  Hmm.  Yes, I suppose that’s true isn’t it.  If you don’t mind, I’m going to have some cognac.”

“If it gets me answers, drink the whole bottle.”

Peggy filled a glass then she began to explain.  “Andrea was an infant for a long while.  You know time moves differently on the island.  That, and her DNA caused her not to achieve puberty until she was about twenty-five.  The terrible twos felt like they lasted for decades.  I needed a respite.

“Well, I should begin earlier.  After I crash landed here, I had no contact with the outside world for many years.  I was presumed dead.  Diana made trips outside but I did not.  She came back with news of my mother’s illness.  I left to see my mother.  After her shock and joy that I was alive, I stayed with her and nursed her back to health.  

“While I was there, I was visited by my friend Howard Stark, who believed the government needed more oversight.  He told me he was starting an agency to protect the world from technologically advanced threats.  He was concerned that Hydra was making a resurgence.”

“My grandfather said he was a genius.”

“He could be.  Howard did some things better than others.”

“His son Tony has been to fashion week several times.  His recent announcement that he’s that Iron Man fellow was a shock.”

“Anthony inherited many things from his father.  Arrogance being first and foremost.  But I didn’t help things.”

“You?”

“I’m Anthony’s godmother.  I wasn’t there for him anymore than I was there for Andrea.”  Peggy took a long drink.

“You know, when I’m feeling particularly awful about not being there for my girls, you know what she would tell me?”

Peggy shook her head.

“Andrea would tell me that her ‘mom’ worked a lot but that she always knew she loved her and she…”

“She was out there doing ‘good work,’” Peggy finished for her.  “And now that’s been tarnished.  Her mother would tell her that when I was gone.  I would tell her the same thing about Diana.”

“Did Diana work for S.H.I.E.L.D?”

Peggy smirked.  “No.  Diana is Wonder Woman.”  At Miranda’s astounded look she continued, “I see Andrea was remiss on that detail, but you’ve seen the Island full of Amazons, know that she doesn’t age.  Who else could possibly be Wonder Woman?”

Miranda rolled her eyes.  “Well never let it be said that you don’t have a type.  You’ve never dated one of the Kryptonians have you?”

Peggy laughed.  “No.  The Supers are safe from me.”

“Good.  Catherine Grant is not to be trifled with.”

“Who?”

“The Queen of All Media.  Surely if you’re getting communications on your watch you have some contact with the outside world?”

“Oh that.  That was a gift from Anthony.  I know of Cat Grant.  What does she have to do with the Kryptonians?”

“Not as much as she wants to.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Nevermind.  It’s none of my business.  I know better than to speculate.  Tell me about this watch.”

“Oh, it’s some prototype Anthony is perfecting.  It’s linked to all the other technology here.”

“And you’re not worried that with that specific technological footprint this secret island won’t be pinpointed?”

“What makes you think Tony doesn’t already know the island’s location?”

“An island full of beautiful women?  He’d still be here.”  Miranda smiled.  “They had to kick him out of the last fashion week.  The models banded together.  He’d slept with most of them.”

Peggy laughed.  “As I said, he inherited many things from his father, and you are correct.  Anthony has no idea of this island’s existence.  He thinks I live with Diana at an anthropological dig.  I change my appearance when I see him so that I look older, and he hasn’t seen Diana in many years.  Something about the islands protections mask its location even with electronics.”

“Has Tony ever met Andrea?”

“Actually, yes.  He’s always thought of her as a younger cousin.  I’m not sure if she’s seen him in the last few years or so, or whether they’ve kept in touch at all, but he was, at one time very protective of her.  He still has no idea that she’s my biological daughter.”

“That must have been hard for Andrea to hide part of herself that way.”

“Guileless.  She was completely guileless as a child.  It was hard for all of us, but I thought it was best.”

“What’s her father like?”

Peggy took a deep breath.  “A lot like Andrea as a child.  I see so much of Steve in her.  He was often out of step in 1945, old-fashioned.  I cannot imagine how hard the 21st century will be for him.”

“And what did she inherit from you?”

Peggy arched an eyebrow and said, “Ambition, and I know you know first-hand she’s not all that comfortable with anything she and I have in common.  She sees ambition as a flaw.”

Miranda nodded once.  “Even now she is still hesitant to go after what she wants.  Well, professionally that is,” Miranda said as a ghost of a smile flitted across her face for just a moment.

Peggy cleared her throat.  “Yes, well…”

Changing the subject, Miranda said, “So her father, is that where she gets all that rooting for the underdog, fairness and justice for all streak?”

“Yes.  Steve was all about what was right.  He hated that they made him a captain.  As I said, he just wanted to ‘do his part.’  He wanted to serve.  Stand up for people who couldn’t stand up for themselves.  Ironic really, because before he took the serum he couldn’t have defended himself even if his life depended on it.”

“How do you think he will handle all of this?”

“Honestly, I have no idea.  It’s a lot to take in even for me.  I’ve lived among the Amazons for over sixty-five years and some days not even I believe it.  A baby born in 1945 that only now looks to be in her twenties?  It’s too fantastic.  Too improbable.”

“Yes.  I’m having a hard time with it myself.”

“Should I worry for my daughter’s heart?”

Miranda looked at Peggy sharply.  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Speaking of which.  How exactly did you come to date my daughter, a woman you believed to be half your age and an ex-employee?”

“How much cognac do you have left?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really do love reviews. :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana Finds Steve in a tough spot. Miranda distracts Andrea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are lovely and appreciated. Thank you all so much for the encouragement! It really does make it worthwhile.

Diana dropped down two stories into the alley and put herself between the sandy haired man behind the dumpster and the four black-clad men who had out flanked him.  His head whipped around and she wasn’t sure who was more surprised, him or the men whose bullets bounced off her shield.  She said, “Peggy sent me.”

“Who are you?”

“Here, she said you fancied a shield.”  She tossed it to him.

“Won’t you need it…” he started but stopped as she blocked bullets with her bracelets.  “Handy,” he said and hunkered down behind the shield as the five men in front opened fire as well.  They had taken the high ground and were now firing at them from the fire escape at the end of the alley.

“They don’t seem to be trying to kill you.  I’m going to deal with these four.  Don’t die.  Peggy would never forgive me.” Diana then leapt in the air and proceeded to take out two of the men.  Steve stayed where he was, unable to move without exposing his position and taking fire.  Despite Diana’s assertion that they didn’t want to kill him, he wasn’t sure if they were trying to take him alive or if they were just not very good.  Fast as lightning she took out the other two.  Steve had seen very few people ever who could move that fast, only serum induced people.

He was pulled out of his train of thought by her calling to him.  “Do you think if I jumped on the shield you could throw me up there?”

He nodded and only had a moment to brace himself before she landed on the shield.  He pushed her as she jumped, landing on the first balcony quicker than the men could react.  Taking out those men, she moved her arms so fast Steve could barely keep up as she blocked bullets from the second group.  Steve saw his chance to make a move since she was drawing all their fire.  He ran up the fire escape and threw his borrowed shield at the first man, knocking him out.  As he caught the rebounding shield he hit the second man square in the chest pushing him off the balcony.  The third he punched and disarmed.

“Hold him still,” Diana commanded.  She pulled out a glowing lasso and secured it around the man who shifted uncomfortably.  “Who are you?  What is your mission?”

“I…I won’t tell you.”

“The lasso of Hestia compels you to tell the truth.  It will become more painful the longer you delay.”

“I’m Barry Harper.  I was chosen to bring the super soldier to the supreme commander.”

“Why?”

“They…they want to make new soldiers.”

“Who? 

“Hydra.  Hail Hydra!”

“Who’s the supreme commander?”

“I don’t know.”

“Have you given me all the information that would be useful to me?”

He hesitated then groaned, “Uhhh, I…If we fail, there is another team waiting. We will not stop.”

“Is that all you know?”

“Yes.”

She wrapped the end of the lasso around the other, unconscious man.  “You will go back and tell them that you failed and that Captain Rogers was too well protected by S.H.I.E.L.D.  They killed all the others but you pretended to be dead to gather more information.  He is no longer gifted with special abilities.  He is just an ordinary man now.  You will have no memory of me.  Do you understand?”

The conscious man answered, “Yes.”

“Wait seven minutes then wake your friend and leave this alley.”

“Yes.”

She turned to Steve, “Come.”

Steve began to follow, jerked his thumb toward the other side of the alley and asked, “What about the others?”

“They’re dead.  You have nothing to fear from them.”

He followed her out if the alley.  They walked to another side street and she ducked into it.  She led him through some more back alleys and back to his apartment, never speaking another word.  She gestured with her hand for him to stop.  He froze.  She waited a moment, he thought she was listening for something and then motioned for him to continue.

When they got to his apartment, he couldn’t stand it any longer.  “You never told me your name.”

She held the side of her forefinger up to her lips and picked up a lamp with her other hand and showed him the bug.  He nodded once in response.   She walked into his bedroom and gestured with her open palm as if to ask him if he wanted to take anything.  He picked up his open pocket watch with Peggy’s picture in it.  Steve saw what looked like pain cross her face but it was gone quickly.  She gestured again but he shook his head no.  There was nothing in this apartment that was his, even his clothes belonged to the government.

She led him up to the roof where he saw her hold her hand out to nothing and then a plane appeared out of thin air.  He shook his head; things sure had changed.  “How do I know Peggy really sent you?”

“She told me to tell you that you still didn’t know a bloody thing about women.”

“Okay then.”

They belted in and took off straight up.  She entered some coordinates on the dash and finally turned to him.  “My name is Diana.  Most people in your world call me Wonder Woman.”

“Huh.  I like the costume.  You look like drawings in an old world history textbook I had in school.”

“Do you really want to open yourself up to that conversation?  Hmm?”

He laughed.  “I guess not.”

“At least you got rid of the wings on the helmet.  The Hermes look was not for you.”

He laughed again.  “I bet Peggy loves you.”

She tilted her head to the side and asked, “What makes you say that?”

“Your quick wit.  Peggy was a firecracker back in my day.  I don’t know what she’s like now but…Hey!  Tuesday’s her birthday!  She’ll be…”

“Ninety-two.”

Steve was stunned.  “Ninety-two,” he repeated softly.

“Captain Rogers, I know this must be a very strange world you’ve awakened to, but I will help you where I can.  I cannot imagine…You’re very dear to Peggy.  I will help you if you allow it.”

“Tell me about her.”

“Peggy lives for the most part now on my island, Themyscira.  She has not aged as she would have if she had not been there.  I am an Amazon.  The island was created by Zeus as a haven for my mother the queen and her people.”

“Wow.  Who all knows about this island?”

“Very few people not on the island.”

“How many people know about Wonder Woman?”

“More than a few.”

“Are there other people like us, people with special abilities?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

“Not that many.  There is a man who can control the seas called ‘Aquaman.’”  There are at least two aliens from a planet called Krypton.  They can fly, shoot lasers out of their eyes, freeze things with their breath and they are incredibly strong and bulletproof.”

“Lasers?”

Diana curled her forefinger on her chin and pursed her lips.  “Actually, I believe the Kryptonians refer to it as heat vision, but whatever it’s called, it is like a concentrated beam of light that heats things up or melts things.”

“That sounds scary.  What are they called?”

“Superman and Supergirl.”

“Anyone else?”

“Oh yes.  Howard Stark’s son Tony is called ‘Iron Man.’ He flies around in a metal suit and has more firepower than many fighter planes.”

“And Howard?”

“He and Tony’s mother Maria were killed when Tony was younger.”

Steve was quiet for a moment absorbing the concrete knowledge that one of the people closest to him was dead.  He knew most of them had to be but it was still a blow.  “Is Tony very much like Howard?”

“Peggy says he is.  Sometimes she complains very loudly that he’s ‘just like his infuriating father.’”

“Anyone else?”

“That’s enough for now.”

“Okay.  Any of those you mentioned bad guys?”

“No.”

“Are there any bad guys like Red Skull still around?”

“Yes, but we’ve talked enough about things you won’t have to worry about for a while yet.  Do you want to know more about Peggy?”

“Yes and no.  I guess I’m afraid to know.  When I woke up I thought I was a few days late for our date.  I had no idea it’d been sixty-five years.  I hope she was happy.  Peggy was the most extraordinary person I ever met.

“When I took the serum women started to notice the muscles and they looked at me all…dreamy, I guess?  Peggy was the only one who ever looked at me like that before Dr. Erskine got done with me.  Peggy never needed me to save her.  She was her own person and she didn’t have to take someone else down to prove who she was. 

“I hope she had the best life.  I hope she got everything she ever wanted.  I just…I think I need to hear it from Peggy.  I don’t know if that will make it easier or harder but I think that’s the right way.”

“As you wish.”  Diana hesitated for a moment then said, “We have several hours to travel.  I suggest you get some sleep.  We will arrive after lunch time in Themyscira.”

“I’ve slept enough for three lifetimes, maybe more.  I could eat though.”

“Galley is in the back.  Help yourself.”

“Thanks,” he said as he unbuckled his seatbelt and walked to the back of the plane.

“Gods, how will we all get through this,” Diana murmured under her breath.

 

o0o

 

Andy had left her parents villa and changed into her workout clothes, which on Themyscira consisted of a short fitted linen dress.  Andy wasn’t sure how long she’d been running the island but it was long enough that her dress was soaked and the moon was high in the sky.  Realizing that she was near the villa where she and Miranda were staying she took a deep breath and decided to go inside.  Miranda was probably worried.  

Walking into the bedroom she noticed Miranda, who had changed into a soft gauzy wrap blouse and casual, well, casual for Miranda, slacks, on a laptop, and on her cell phone?  “Emily, I go on vacation for less than forty-eight hours and you all manage to mangle two layouts for next month’s issue and lose a major advertiser to boot.”  Looking up and seeing Andy she said, “Do not make me regret making you Art Director, Emily,” and hung up the phone.   “Darling…I’m glad you’re back.  After the third hour, I confess I was restless.  I had to ask your mum for a way to amuse myself.”

Andy smiled.  That was Miranda speak for _I was worried.  Are you okay?_  “So Mum hooked you up for your technology fix, huh?”

“Yes.  Is it raining?”

“No.  Why?”

“You’re soaked.”

“Oh, yeah.  I guess I am.”

“Did you really run the entire time?”

“Yeah.  I’ll go get cleaned up and change,” Andy said and started to walk to the bathroom.

“Andrea,” Miranda called.

“Yes,” Andy said turning around.

“You process verbally.  When you are ready to process, I’ll be here.”

“I know that.  I just…”

“Would you care for a distraction?  I’m more than willing to provide that if you’re amenable to it.”

Andy tilted her head, “Why, Miranda Priestly are you trying to seduce me?”

“As I said, only if you’re amenable.”

“Where exactly would this seduction take place?”

“Anywhere you like.”

“And what would it consist of?”

“Anything you want.”

“And if I wanted you on your knees just now?”

Wordlessly, Miranda threw a pillow on the marble floor and sank to her knees.  She arched her eyebrow at a frozen Andy.

“Holy shit!  I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”

“Andrea, I’m not in the habit of saying things I don’t mean.”

“Get up for Pete’s sake.  Get up here and kiss me at least.”

Miranda stood and kissed Andy softly.  “I will do anything you wish but I do hope you make up your mind soon.”

“How about I take a quick shower and you wait for me in bed?  Or you can work if you need to.  Is everything alright at work?”

“Everything is as it always is at work.”

“So a disaster then?”

“Emily would not dare disappoint me.”

“Poor Em.  Do you need to go back?”

“No.  My place is at your side.  Runway could burn to the ground for all I care right now.”

“Miranda!  You don’t mean that.”

“Is Runway important to me?  Yes.  Is it more important than you or my girls?  No.  Besides, Emily would rather wear your grandmother skirt and clogs to fashion week than fail.  This will be her chance to spread her wings.  If she succeeds, perhaps a trip home to British Runway is in order.”

Andy giggled despite her black mood.  “Would you order her to wear it for me?”

“I will not humiliate my employees for your amusement.”

“No, just for your own.”

“When I said I would do anything you wish, I was thinking of things of a more personal, rather than professional nature.”

“Seriously though, do you need to work at least?”

“Runway is fine.  If it can’t survive without me for a few days, then I’m a poor leader.  I want to be here for you in any capacity that you need me.  I love you, darling.  You are my family.  You don’t have to do this alone; unless you wish to?”

Andy shook her head.

“What do you want?”

“I want my mum not to have been involved in some clandestine spy agency.  I want to have known my father.  I love my mother; I wouldn’t trade being her daughter for anything but…”

“You’ll get your chance to know him soon.  This is an unusual situation to say the very least.  Speaking of which, your mum grilled me about how we got together.”

“Did she upset you?”

“No.  I quite like her.  You and she are very much alike.  I found out how she came to join the SSR and then S.H.I.E.L.D.  She is just as dedicated to the fight for what’s right as you and your father though she lays your stubborn moral streak firmly at his feet.”

“Hmm.”

“You know, she was a hero of mine.”

“Really?”

“Yes.  My grandfather used to tell the most unbelievable stories about her.  I thought she was wonderful.  You know she led a squadron of men into a Hydra base in a surprise attack after your father allowed himself to be captured?”

“What?”

“I asked her tonight.  She confirmed it.”

“I didn’t think women were combatants in WWII.”

“Just like you, your mum is remarkable.  She also led covert operations after the war for the SSR and then for S.H.I.E.L.D.  Some of them were combat operations.  I asked.  She was…parsimonious with the details.”

“Yeah, Mum is not really all that forthcoming about work.  Never has been.”

“Hmmm.”

“Miranda, seriously, she won’t tell you.”

“We’ll see.”

“I mean it.  I’ve asked since I knew to ask.  She won’t,” Andy said and Miranda just waved her hand dismissively.  Andy shook her head in response, “You’re going to be disappointed.”

“I think not.”  Miranda paused and tilted her head as if to indicate a change of subject.  “Now, about your earlier proposal, I find your terms acceptable.”  At Andy’s blank look she continued, “Unless, you want to renegotiate,” and seductively unwrapped her top to expose her breasts.

“Uh.”

“Your command of the English language is, as always, astounding, my darling.”

“Shower.  Right.  I’ll…just…”

“Shower.”

“Yep.  Yeppers.  Right this second,” she yelled over her shoulder as she careened into the bathroom.

“Darling, be careful.  I have plans for you.”

“Same goes!”

Miranda smirked to herself.  She planned to distract Andrea as much as humanly possible tonight.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Steve lands on Themyscira. Miranda wonders just how much she doesn't know about Andrea. Andy and her father try to get to know one another.

Diana landed the plane on Themyscira and glanced over at Steve who looked nervous.  He pressed his lips together and closed his eyes briefly.  She waited and wasn’t disappointed, his courage won out.  “I…thank you and your mother for protecting Peggy all these years and giving her a safe and beautiful place to live.  I…thank you.”

“It was the least I could do.  She is, as you say, extraordinary.”  She smiled softly at him, then looked out the front window and gestured with her chin, “and waiting.”

He turned and saw her.  She was a little bit older, a little bit grayer but no less beautiful.  “Wow.  I gotta…”  He stood up abruptly and Diana, fearing he would just tear the door off the hinges, stood and put a hand on his chest.

“Let me.”  She moved quickly and opened the door.

He jumped from the plane and ran to Peggy, picking her up by the waist and twirling her around almost five feet off the ground.  Peggy was laughing and smiling.

Diana exited the plane at a more sedate pace.  From behind her she heard her mother, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, Mother.”

Hippolyta walked up beside Diana still watching Peggy and the male newcomer.  “He seems to be very…exuberant.”

“He’s just been reunited with the woman he loves, of course he is.”

“You didn’t tell him?”

“No.  He wanted to hear about her from her.”  

“What’s his name?”

“Steve.”

“Are they all named that now?”

“Not funny, Mother.”  They watched Peggy and Steve walk toward Peggy and Diana’s villa.

“So you say.”  Hippolyta looked at her daughter.  Diana waited for Hippolyta to make up her mind about something.  Diana didn’t know what the test was but she seemed to pass.  Hippolyta then asked, “This is Andy’s father?”

“Yes.  They have the same smile,” and Diana’s took on a look of fondness.

“He’s a good man?”

“Yes.  He chose not to kill last night when he had a choice.  He cares deeply for Peggy.  He wants to make a positive difference in the world.”

“And he doesn’t know about Andy?”

“No.”

“Are you worried how he will react?”

“Not once he has time to adjust.  You have to admit that even for our world, this is unusual.”

“Yes, it is.  Are you tired?”

“Not really.”

“Come then.  Introduce me to this woman Andy’s been complaining about for the last few years.”

Diana smiled.  “You know very well that she stopped complaining two years ago.”

“Isn’t that the way?  I seem to recall someone else’s complaints slowing greatly a little over a half a dozen decades ago.”

“Well, the sex did help that considerably.”

“It does, does it not?  Now, tell me about this woman,” Hippolyta said as she hooked her arm through Diana’s and walked in the direction of Andy’s temporary villa.

 

o0o

 

Diana knocked on the door of the villa and Andy called from inside, “Callie, I already told Astra I didn’t want to train!”

“Well, then how do you hope to get better,” Hippolyta called back.

“Ta Ta!”  The door swung open and Andy said, “Mother, you’re back!”

“Yes, yes I am,” Diana replied laughing as she was swept up in an enthusiastic hug.

Hippolyta said, “You’ve always been very _exuberant_ , sweet one.”

“Mother,” Diana said lowly.

Andy eyed her own mother suspiciously then hugged her grandmother.  “It’s so good to see you Ta Ta!”

“It’s been too long since you’ve been home.  You know I won’t be around forever.”

“Ta Ta, you’ll probably outlive me.  Come in and meet Miranda.”

“That is one of the purposes of our visit,” Hippolyta said.

“And the others?”

“To see you of course,” Hippolyta replied smoothly.

Andy ushered them into the room and Miranda and Hippolyta faced off for the first time.  Hippolyta looked Miranda over.  She was very striking but not exactly who Hippolyta would have picked out for her only granddaughter.  However, she was willing to keep an open mind.  She noticed that Miranda showed no outward signs of nervousness which was to her credit.  She looked and carried herself as regally as any monarch Hippolyta had ever met. 

“Miranda Priestly, this is my Ta Ta.  I mean Hippolyta, Queen of Themyscria.”

“Ta Ta?”  Miranda arched an eyebrow.

“That’s my fault, I’m afraid,” Hippolyta said.  “I objected to grandmother and when she was learning to speak the first thing about my name that grabbed her attention was the ‘ta.’  It was too cute to correct then and I grew accustomed to it.  When she was around the development stage of a two year old human child, she was very insistent on calling me by either an endearment like ‘Gran’ or ‘Hippolyta.’  I told her she was to always call me ‘Ta Ta.’  I confess I will forever see that tiny child whose brown eyes seemed too large for her face when she says it.  So I have a grown woman who calls me Ta Ta.  There are worse things.”

“There are indeed,” Miranda said.  “My girls sometimes slip and call me ‘mummie’ and I love it.”

“What do they normally call you?”

“’Mom’ usually called loudly from another room unfortunately.”

Hippolyta laughed and pointed to Diana.  “She was as loud as a herd of elephants.  I swear at times I feared Hannibal and his legions had invaded the island.”

Miranda threw her head back and laughed.  “Well, I can certainly relate to that feeling.  I have two so I think they may actually be louder than a herd of elephants, especially on the stairs.  Hopefully, my girls grow up to be as poised and charming as Diana and will share that with her also.”

“Thank you, Miranda that’s very kind of you to say,” Diana said.  Then she turned to her mother.  “Let’s not start the embarrassing story contest.  I still know a few Aunt Antiope told me.  Especially, that one about you and that Phoenician trader who…”

“Diana, it might almost be worth it if I can tell the story of either of your first attempts at seducing a woman, but I don’t want to have this descend into some sordid family story hour.”

At almost the same time, “Ta Ta!”  “Mother!”

“Why don’t we show Miranda the training area,” Hippolyta suggested diplomatically.

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Miranda was biting the inside of her lip to contain her smirk.  Andy noticed.  “C’mon, Mother let’s go train.”  She grabbed Diana’s elbow and ushered her out the door.

After they left, Miranda smiled.  Hippolyta said conspiratorially, “In their defense, they were the only two children ever raised on the island.  The rest of us came here and have never aged.  It made for very awkward teenage crushes.”

“Oh my.”

“Yes, but they persevered.”

“Of course they did.”  Miranda put her finger to her lips and said, “That was a skillful manipulation you just executed.”

“Whatever do you mean,” Hippolyta asked too innocently.

“Distracting them so neither of them would think about Peggy meeting with Andrea’s father.”

Hippolyta made no outward sign of acknowledgement and said, “Why don’t we go watch them train?  I think you’ll find it interesting.”

“As they say, ‘when in Rome.’”

 

o0o

 

Miranda stood on a hillside and looked over women of various shapes and sizes doing their level best to kill one another as far as she could tell.  It was overwhelming and intimidating and Miranda Priestly hadn’t been intimidated since the mid-eighties.

Hippolyta stood next to Miranda and surveyed her kingdom.  The archers were getting a bit sloppy but otherwise it looked to be a good day.  “What do you think?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have a frame of reference for this.”

Andrea rode up on a huge black horse and dismounted at a fast cantor.  “Miranda, are you going to watch?”

“You’re here, darling.  Where else would I be?”

Andrea’s responding smile was almost blinding.  “Just watch this,” and she hurled herself down the hill toward the heaviest part of the fighting.

“Oh my.  I hope this isn’t what the girls call, ‘hold my beer.’”

“Pardon?”

“Nevermind.  What’s happening?”

“Andy is going to attempt to fight her way to Diana.  If she’s successful, then they will face off.  They are both very skilled but Andy has never defeated her.  She’s beaten everyone else on the island though.”

Miranda watched in fascination and horror as her gorgeous, clumsy, sweet lover turned into a fearsome, whirling, spinning, leaping warrior.  Warrior.  There was no other word for what Andrea was now, here.  Miranda had a sinking feeling that she didn’t know Andrea at all as she watched her skillfully, slash the air with her sword and block blows expertly with her shield.  She was breathtaking and beautiful and completely foreign to Miranda.  How had she not known this side of Andrea?  What else didn’t she know?  How could she be this unaware of everything about the woman she loves?  She should have known everything.  If she had been paying better attention, she would have known.

Just as Miranda’s tirade of self-doubt reached its pinnacle, Andrea broke through the crowd to Diana.  Diana twirled her sword in one hand and grinned.  She called to Andrea in Greek and Miranda heard the phrase, “misí kardiá mou,” again.

“What did she say to Andrea?”

Hippolyta replied, “Do your best, half my heart.  There is no shame in failure.”

“Half my heart?”

“Yes, she addresses both Peggy and Andy the same way.”

Miranda thought, _so that’s where that romantic streak comes from_ , but she said, “Andrea, seems…incensed.”

“Andy doesn’t like to be told that she cannot do something.”

Miranda chuckled darkly.  “Oh, I know that all too well.”

Andrea charged Diana, and at that moment Peggy and Steve joined Hippolyta and Miranda on the ridge.  Miranda thought Captain Rogers looked stunned enough that he knew the whole story.  His eyes were fixed on the field.  He asked, “Where is she?”

Peggy shielded her eyes and said, “She’s fighting Diana.”

They were moving so swiftly and surely that Miranda was holding her breath.  Their swords were clashing so fast they sounded like cymbals in one of the drum solos Caroline was so fond of in her music right now.  

Andrea was so focused on Diana that she didn’t notice them - but Diana did.  She raised her head briefly to the ridge and that’s all the opening Andrea needed.  She disarmed her mother with a powerful blow, Diana’s sword falling to the ground. 

Diana lowered her gaze to the ground then she looked up and smiled at her daughter, pride filling her face.  She opened her arms and Andrea embraced her immediately.  She whispered something in Andrea’s ear then turned her around so that she could see Steve and Peggy.  Then she walked off the field leaving Andrea standing there alone looking up at her biological parents.

Peggy waved Andrea up to where they were.  Miranda could tell by the look on Andrea’s face she was too stunned to move.  She looked over at Captain Rogers and felt like he was feeling the same way.  Miranda leaned over to Hippolyta, “Perhaps a horse for Andrea?”  Hippolyta nodded and signaled to one of the women on the field.  Miranda didn’t understand the gesture but a woman on a white horse rode up to Andrea, reached down and swung her on the back of the horse like it was no effort at all.  They galloped up the ridge.

Miranda felt like an intruder but did not want to step away in case Andrea needed her.  She did take a healthy step back behind Hippolyta.  Andrea dismounted with a little less ease than before but she did so expertly anyway.

Peggy gripped the Captain’s hand, led him the short distance, and said, “Andrea, this is your father, Captain Steven Rogers.”  She reached and took Andrea’s hand.  “Steve, this is your daughter, Andrea.  She prefers to be called, Andy.”

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

They both chuckled awkwardly, and started again at the same time,

“It’s nice…”

“I’ve…”

Hippolyta interrupted, “I’ll just take Miranda on a tour and give you all some privacy.  Captain, a pleasure.  I’m sure we’ll have a chance to get better acquainted.  Peggy, will you be staying?”

Peggy looked from her former lover to her daughter and said, “I don’t think I will.  Andrea, why don’t you take him to your villa so that the two of you can get to know one another better?  If either of you need me, just send word.”

“Mum?”

Peggy let go of Steve’s hand and held Andrea’s face in her hands.  “You both have so very much in common, darling.  You’ll be fine.  I love you.  He already loves you too.”  She kissed her on the forehead.

 

o0o

 

Andy and Steve walked to her villa in silence.  As they walked in Andy asked, “Can I get you anything?”

“No.”

“Please, sit.”  

He sat down uneasily in on one of the settees, his body way too large.  Andy tried to help.  “Uh, when Artie visits she usually sits in this chair.  This might be more comfortable for you.”

“Uh, okay.  Thanks,” he said getting up and sitting in the chair.

“Better?”

“Yeah.”

They were both quiet for a moment then Andy said, “I can’t believe I’ve wished all my life to know who you are and now that you’re here, I have no idea what to say.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here…I mean until now.  I…just…I never meant…”

She reached over and touched his hand, her natural caretaking instincts taking over.  “Hey, I know.  Mum was always very clear on that, just not your identity.  She said you died saving hundreds of thousands of lives.  You never even knew about me.  There’s no need to apologize.”  She let go of his hand.

“I wish I’d been here.  I feel like that old story Rip Van Winkle.  Do you know it?”

“Yeah.  I, do.  I double majored in college, English and Journalism.”

“Oh.  So you’re a reporter?”

“Mum didn’t tell you?”

“No. She said we needed something to talk about,” he smiled.

“I am…a reporter I mean.  I also draw satirical cartoons that are sometimes published in magazines.  Mum said you used to draw all the time in sketchbooks and well, Mother moonlights from time to time as an antiquities expert,” she shut her mouth and trailed off softly.

“Hey,” he reached out to her as she did to him before, “you had two parents who loved you and raised you and I never want you to feel bad about talking to me about Diana.  I owe her more than I could ever repay.  She was there for you and your mother, and I’m so glad you both had her in your lives.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty great.”

“She loves Peggy a great deal I’d imagine.”

Andy nodded.  “Yeah, I didn’t realize until I left here how rare they are.  I mean even on the island, they’re special but it doesn’t stick out as much.  After being out in the world and searching for my, I guess you’d call it ‘soul mate,’ I realized how unusual their relationship is.”

“And did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yeah.  Yeah, I did.  She was on the ridge today with you.  You may not have noticed her, white hair, stunning blue eyes, porcelain skin?”

“Oh, yeah.  Oh.  So you’re…like Peggy then?”

“I consider myself bisexual.  I guess Mum does too.  I’ve never thought about that.”

“We didn’t call it that back then, and nobody talked much about much of anything.”  He cleared his throat.

“Are you uncomfortable?  Would you like to talk about something else?”

“No.  I’ve missed so much of your life already.  It’s just different.  Who you love is none of my business except whether or not they make you happy.”

Andy smiled.  “That’s…I was afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Well, you’re from a different time.  I was worried you wouldn’t accept me.”

He cleared his throat again.  “I used to dream about a life after the war, with Peggy and some kids.  I think sometimes, especially after we lost Bucky, it was the only thing that kept me sane.  I promised myself that I’d love all of them with everything I had.  I was fully prepared to have a son that was like me pre-serum, weak, sickly and I was gonna love him.  But I got you, and you’re beautiful.  You have your mother’s eyes.  Same shade.  I see so much of her in you.  You’re way more coordinated that I ever was.  That whole sword battle thing…”

Andy started laughing.  “Miranda, that’s my girlfriend, she’d disagree with you.  Evidently, I’m very clumsy around her.”

“Does she make you feel kinda like you’re gonna throw up and butterflies in your stomach but with nervous energy in your sides and arms?”

“That’s exactly…how did you…”

“I always feel that way around Peggy.  The commandos used to tease me so bad.  I was always dropping things around her.”

“Mum said Miranda’s grandfather was a commando.”

“Really, who?”

“Uhm, his last name would be Princhek.”

“Harry!”

“Yep.  That’s it.  Harry Princhek.”

“He was a sly dog.  He spoke four languages, could fake documents you couldn’t tell were fake, was an explosives expert, and had the best poker face I ever saw.  The reason his documents were so good was he saw things differently than most people.  He’d look at something for a few seconds and point out what was wrong to you and then you’d wonder why you hadn’t seen it before.”

“That sounds like her.  She’s the editor in chief of Runway magazine.  It’s the premier fashion magazine in the world.  She’s kinda famous.”

“She’s established and done well for herself then.”

“You could say that.”

“She older?”

“I’m actually older.”

“Right.  I keep forgetting.”

“It’s okay.  I’m sure this is a lot to get adjusted to.  Miranda just found out about me and the island a few days ago, and she’s still working through it, and…”

“And what?”

“And she’s not Rip Van Winkle.”

“Right.  I’m doing my best.”  He ducked his head then looked up at her imploringly.

“No!  You’re doing fine.  It’s got to be very hard though.”

He nodded stiffly and looked down at the floor again.

She thought a moment.  “Do you like sweets?”

He looked up, surprised.  “Yeah, I do.”

Andy smiled a broad smile.  “Well, Mum doesn’t.  So I thought my sweet tooth might have come from you.  The girls snuck me some snacks into my luggage.  We’ll see if you like twenty-first century candy.”  She stood.

He grinned back.  “Okay.”

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peggy goes to check on Diana.  
> How would you handle a very, very hungover Miranda Priestly? (Asking for a friend.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the Reviews, kudos and encouragement! It really is the only payment a fic writer gets.  
> And hey, if you don't like the story, write me a review and tell me why, respectfully of course. :D

o0o

 

Just after dusk, Peggy walked very carefully back into her villa, though the darkness had nothing to do with her caution.  She had spent the last several hours at the palace with Miranda and Hippolyta at an impromptu feast with some of the Senators, Hippolyta, doing her best to get them both drunk.  Peggy almost felt sorry for Miranda.  The first time the Amazons had gotten Peggy drunk, she had a hangover for three days.  She knew her mother-in-law meant well, but all she had wanted to do was find Diana and check on her.  Knowing that Diana wanted space just meant the impulse was that much stronger. 

She walked into their bedroom and spotted Diana out on the balcony, head bowed, shoulders tensed, leaning on the railing, her hands gripping the marble beneath them, her posture one of great anguish.  The sight made Peggy’s eyes burn and her heart quail.  She walked up behind her, and for the first time in a long time, denied her impulse to touch Diana, because she wasn’t sure whether it was for her comfort or Diana’s, and hurting Diana was more than she could bear at the moment.

“Love, talk to me,” Peggy said softly.  Diana stiffened and raised her head, but said nothing.  “Surely, you don’t think this changes things between us?  How can you not know what you mean to me?  Have I failed you so completely?”

Diana dropped her head again and said, “He thanked me.”

“I’m sorry?”

“He thanked me.  Andy was looking for some Themysciran candy and didn’t expect me to be here.  She thought I’d be at the palace with you, Mother and Miranda.  It made for an awkward few moments.  She went to the kitchen in search of the candy and he took me aside and thanked me again.  Knowing everything, he thanked me for taking care of you, of Andy, like it wasn’t the greatest joy of my life.  He thanked me.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean…”

Diana turned then and looked at Peggy with fire in her eyes.  “I know he didn’t!  I’ve been thinking what if our paths were reversed.  What if I was first and he was in my place?  Could I be as...as…gracious as he has been?  Could I sacrifice myself so that you could be happy?  Could I thank someone who was allowed to watch my child grow up when I did not?”

“Love, don’t torture yourself with what-ifs.”

“My existence is painful to him.  Just by existing, I know I bring him immense pain.”

Peggy did reach for Diana then.  Taking her hands she said, “And you bring me great joy.  You have loved me and protected me, even when I bristled at it.  You have loved our daughter so completely.  She is so very like you, you know.  She is so, so good.  You saved us, Diana.  You loved us, and I love you with my whole heart.  Some part of me will always love Steve but our time passed.  Who knows why, but I do know my life would be immeasurably poorer without you in it.  I will not give you up, Diana of Themyscira, Princess of all the Amazons, my goddess.  I would not survive without you.”

Diana unclasped their hands, leaned down, took Peggy’s face in her hands and kissed her as if they had all the time in the world.  Effortlessly, Diana picked her up and she wrapped her legs around Diana’s waist.  Leaning back slightly out of their kiss, Diana asked against her lips, “How are your ribs, misí kardiá mou?”

“Passable,” Peggy answered diving back into their kiss.

Almost seventy years of lovemaking and Peggy didn’t think she would ever get over the feeling of awe of making love with Diana.  Diana was so powerful, but so gentle.  Peggy would claw and writhe and scream and Diana was so steady.  Oh, Peggy could make her scream and writhe alright, but Diana was always so careful with her.  

Diana pulled her head back gently as she lay Peggy on the bed.  Peggy reached for her and Diana simply replied, “Let me.”

“Love…”

Diana kissed her again to quiet her and pulled softly at her clothing.  Undressing Peggy with the greatest care, she kissed every new patch of skin that was exposed, not to excite, not now, but to comfort.  Peggy had the sensation of being bathed in love.  When they were both fully naked, Diana sat back on her feet and just looked.  She put her hand over her own heart as if to keep it in her chest.  Her eyes full of tears she spoke, “Peggy, you brought my heart back from the dead.  I was living a half-life.  I had retreated from man’s world.  I wanted no more of war, of loss, but you are so easy to love.  You and Andy will always make up the pieces of my heart.  That day, the first day I held her, the day I swore to you to protect you and her with everything I had, I knew.  I knew I would love you both until I am no more.”

“My love.”

Diana leaned down then, her hands on the bed on either side of Peggy’s head and kissed her passionately.  Peggy wondered how on earth Diana’s kisses, even after all this time, seemed new.  Desire always under the surface between them unfurled even stronger within Peggy.  She put her hands on Diana’s shoulders and trailed them softly over her collarbones down to her breasts.  She held Diana’s breasts softly and ran her thumbs over the nipples.  Diana sucked in a breath.

“Careful.  If you keep doing that I won’t be able to control myself.”

“And who says I want you to?”  Peggy smiled and tweaked both nipples.

Diana pounced then like a large cat.  She was everywhere at once, trailing kisses down the side of Peggy’s neck and then her breasts.  Diana licked and sucked until Peggy was begging.  Her breasts had always been a source of fascination for Diana because they were so much larger than her own she supposed.  Over the years, Peggy’s breasts had become so in tuned to Diana’s touch that she could often come from that stimulation alone, but not today.  “Love, please I need you so much.  I need to feel you, please.”

Diana began to lower her head trailing kisses across Peggy’s stomach.  Peggy stopped her.  Diana looked up questioningly.

Peggy hooked her finger under Diana’s chin.  “Up here, Love.  I want to look into your eyes as you love me.”

Diana moved back up and looked deep into Peggy’s eyes and said, “If I live another thousand years, I will never love another as I love you.”  With that, she skillfully slid two fingers inside Peggy, exactly the way Peggy wanted.

“Oh, God,” Peggy moaned.

Knowing she wasn’t going to last long, Peggy returned the favor and slid three fingers into Diana who stammered out, “Unngghh, Gods what you do to me…” and kissed Peggy fiercely.

They moved in tandem as only experienced lovers can, sweat covering their bodies, making sounds of desire and murmuring sweet nothings to one another.  Still, Peggy hovered just before the edge.  She needed Diana to know, to know she had never loved another, not even Steve, the way she loved her.  She gasped out, “Love, I’ve never…”

“Shh…I know,” Diana responded and kissed her again.  With that shared knowing Peggy’s orgasm blossomed within her, its intensity something new and unfamiliar, her limbs shaking as she felt Diana fall as well.  They stared at one another until both had to close their eyes involuntarily as sensation overwhelmed them.

Hours later, she awoke to Diana’s head on her breast.  The morning light coming through the open balcony door.  Afraid of ruining this perfect moment, she dared not move.  She felt Diana’s smile against her skin.

“Good morning,” Diana said as she kissed up Peggy’s neck.

“Hmmm.  Good morning my love.  Did you sleep well?”

Diana looked into her eyes, all her love for Peggy visible.  “Yes, misí kardiá mou.  I slept very well.  You are the most comfortable pillow.”  She smirked.

“I’m sure that was meant as some sort of back-handed comment to my…physical endowments, as it were, but I’m choosing to rise above.”  Peggy smiled and kissed Diana on the nose.

Diana looked at her in confusion, and then she understood.  “Oh no.  I didn’t mean…” Then she laughed.  “But that would have been very funny.”

Peggy reached up and cupped Diana’s face.  “Do you feel better this morning, Love?”

“I feel very lucky.  Very lucky indeed.”

“Diana…”

“No.  I know how you feel about me.  I know how I feel about you.  But at the same time, I can’t help but feel so badly for him.  I know no one chose this situation, but if fate had chosen differently…I think I’m the only one who could imagine what this is like for him.  I would not survive losing you.  I have no idea how he will.”

“You are the most remarkable person I’ve ever met,” Peggy said and kissed her softly.  “I’m the lucky one.”

o0o

 

_“There was a little girl,_

_Who had a little curl,_

_Right in the middle of her forehead._

_When she was good,_

_She was very good indeed,_

_But when she was bad she was horrid.”_

 

Andy wondered if Longfellow had known one of Miranda’s ancestors because if that poem didn’t describe THE Miranda Priestly, she didn’t know what did.  She sighed and looked down on the bed at the love of her life.  Miranda was sprawled on her back with her mouth open – snoring.  One arm was bent around her head and the other was clutching the sheet at her neck.  Andy supposed she was cold.  That’s what happens sometimes when you sleep naked.

Not that Andy benefited from Miranda’s nakedness last night.  Oh no.  Her grandmother had carried her lover to Andy’s villa over her shoulder.  Hippolyta was very put out that Miranda kept bouncing “her pointy shoes off my ass.”  Andy had been too shocked to reply.  Her father, and wasn’t that weird to say, was still there when they arrived but thankfully her grandmother fell naturally into the role of royal host and volunteered to take him to where he was staying.

Andy pulled her aside before they left.  “Ta Ta, what’s going on?  I’ve never seen Miranda drunk in my life.  What did you do?”

“We feted her, Amazon style.”

“Oh, gods.  Why?  Why would you do that without me there?”

Hippolyta put her hand on Andy’s forearm, “Sweet one, I was giving you and your father time to get to know one another.  Your lover is quite entertaining and I approve wholeheartedly.  Your mum was there too, for a time.”

“Why wasn’t mother?”

“I think Diana needed to be alone for a while.”  She patted Andy’s arm.  “All is fine, if the sounds I heard coming from you parents villa are any indication.”

“Ta Ta!”

“I hope when you have been with your lover that long that you both still enjoy one another as your mothers do.  It’s not a bad thing.”

“I know that!  It’s just…icky.”

Hippolyta laughed.  “Thankfully, your opinion, like that of many children’s opinions of their parents’ sex lives, does not matter.”

“I know.  I know.  I just don’t want to hear about it.  I’m going to have to stop giving Cassidy and Caroline a hard time.”

“See, you’re a parent already.”  Hippolyta smiled and kissed her on the cheek.   “Make sure she gets some of the numbing herbs in her morning beverage tomorrow.  She’ll need it.”

“Did you all drink that much?”

“The last human we feted for the first time was your mother.  I was a bit out of practice.  I never can tell what’s too much for them.  I thought your mother was keeping track but she left early.  Your lover will be fine.”  Hippolyta paused then tilted her head and smirked.  “Maybe not tomorrow, but soon.”

“Thanks, Ta Ta,” Andy said sarcastically.

Hippolyta’s laughter tinkled behind her as she left.

Getting Miranda undressed after Hippolyta had unceremoniously dumped her in the bed had been a battle.  Miranda seemed determined that Andy was going to undress as well and made several propositions but would then fall asleep mid-sentence only to awaken and try to take off Andy’s clothes.  It took forever.

Miranda snorted pulling Andy back to the present.  Andy sighed and looked at Miranda who was frowning in her sleep.  She looked just like Cassidy in that moment.  She was adorable.  Miranda would kill her if she ever said that out loud though so she had best think of another word.  Miranda, hell.  _Nigel_ would have her committed if she used the words Miranda and adorable in the same sentence.

Miranda began to snore in earnest now and the curl was vibrating.  Andy took it and tickled Miranda’ eyelid with it.  She shuffled her head.  Andy did it again.  She shuffled her head and rolled over on her stomach away from Andy, one foot hanging off the bed.  Now she looked exactly like Caroline.  So adorable.  Andy’s heart felt like it would burst.

Andy decided to try a different tactic.

Fifteen minutes later she returned to the room with the strongest Turkish coffee she could find.  She needed something to cover up the herbs she’d added to the coffee.  Andy knew the moment the smell registered in Miranda’s nostrils.  There was a break in the snoring and a small cough.  Her breathing pattern changed, though her eyes remained closed.

“Good morning, honey,” Andy whispered.

“Andrea, must you screech at the top of your lungs like some banshee?”

“I’m whispering.”

“Like hell you are,” Miranda said, even more softly than normal.

“Well I am.  I’m not the one who tried to out-drink all the Amazons last night so, I think I’m a pretty trustworthy source.”

“Who would do such a thing?”  Miranda’s eyes were still closed.

“You, apparently.”

Miranda cracked one eye open.  “Is that coffee?”

“It is.”

“Put it on the table and back away.  Don’t speak.”

Thinking this resembled instructions during a bank robbery, Andy rolled her eyes but said nothing and put the coffee down.  Miranda sat up and when the covers fell off her body she gasped then clutched at her head.

“Drink the coffee.  It has…”

Miranda, head down with her left hand over her eyes, held out her right arm with her forefinger straight up in the air.

Andy pressed her lips together.

Miranda took a deep breath opened one eye again and turned her head in search of the coffee.  She leaned over carefully and brought it to her lips.  She tasted it and sputtered.  She glared at Andy who gestured with her hands to mime drinking it.  Miranda downed it with one gulp.  Andy shuddered.  Miranda lay back down and put her arm over her eyes. 

“Would you like anything else?”

Miranda, not moving the arm over her eyes, pointed at the door with the other imperiously.

“Okay, okay.  I’m going.  I’m going.   Gah.”  Andy paused at the doorway.  “I love you, Miranda.”

“Andrea, it is a testament to my deep and abiding love for you that I’ve decided to let you live.”

Andy laughed and Miranda pointed at the door again.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miranda's suffering continues. Andy is reminded of a lesson from her childhood she's learned the hard way before. I'll ask again, How would you handle a hungover La Priestly?

Andy had checked on Miranda at lunchtime and she wasn’t any better.  “Honey, do you want anything to eat?  Is there anything I can get you?  How do you feel?  You look like death warmed over,” as she gently stroked the top of her foot.

Miranda answered succinctly, “Do not mention food to me.  No.  Like hell,” and Andy’s personal favorite, “At this point, death would be an improvement.”

Andy knew she needed to get Miranda some help.  With only her lover’s well-being on her mind she went in search of the only person that could relate to Miranda’s predicament.  If she hadn’t been so worried, she never would have walked into her parents’ villa unannounced.  She knew better.  She had just rounded the corner to the dining room as she called out, “Mum!”

Then she was given a very visceral reminder about why she never did that.  Her parents were having sex on one of the dining room chairs, stark naked.  Well, her mum was in a dining room chair and her mother was kneeling between her legs.  There was a squeak, a low thump and then Diana was laughing.  Andy wasn’t sure what happened because she’d shut her eyes very, very tightly.

“Oh my God!  My eyes!  Mum, you’ll be ninety-two tomorrow!!  You guys have a perfectly good bedroom!  Arrrggghhh!”

“And your mother is a great deal older than that.  Why do you always lead with my age?”

Diana giggled.  Then said to Peggy, “I remember now why we stopped doing this for a time.”

“Yes, well,” Peggy cleared her throat.  “Darling, give us a minute to get decent.”

Andy kicked the toe of her sandal across the carpet like a sullen teenager.  “Fine.”

A few minutes later Andy heard them both return and Peggy said, “Okay, I don’t think we’ll be inflicting any more retinal damage.  To what do we owe this impromptu visit?”

Andy opened her eyes to her mum sitting in her mother’s lap on one of the sofas and they both had on thin silk robes.  “Aww, c’mon!  I know you’re not listening when you’re like this.  Mother, can I talk to Mum alone for a minute?”

Diana narrowed her eyes playfully.  “Anything you wish, misí kardiá mou, but remember what the Americans say.  ‘Payback is a bitch.’”  Then she stood and kissed Peggy softly.  “I’ll be waiting.”

Peggy watched her leave then sighed contentedly.

Andy couldn’t help being in awe of them.  She’d never met another couple that had loved as long and as fiercely as her parents.  “How do you do it?”

“Do what, my darling?”

“As long as I can remember the two of you have gone at it like horny teenagers.  You act like people on their honeymoon.  I…”

“You and Miranda seem to be very much in love.  How do you do it?”

“It’s a lot of work.  It’s not easy.”

“No, my darling it’s not.  Don’t ever listen to anyone who tells you it isn’t.  Love is hard work.  Yes, there are days like today, and they are wonderful and Diana and I have had more than our share.  But days like today usually follow days like yesterday, and I know we’ve had more than our share of those.”

“Is mother okay with, with…Steve?”

“Yes, darling.  Your mother knows her place in my life.  No, she was just feeling bad about the situation.  She…”

“She empathizes with him because he loves you too.”

“Yes.”

“And how do you feel?”

“I’ve had your lifetime to get over your father.  A part of me will always love him but our time has passed.  It’s been a lifetime for me and you but for him, it’s like yesterday.  It will take time.”

Andy took a deep breath and released it.  She had been unaware that she had been worried about her mother in all of this.  “I…I don’t know what to call him.”

“I think the two of you will figure that out.”

“Yeah.  I guess.”

“What do you think about him so far?”

“We like the same kinds of candy, and he gets nervous the same way I do around girls, and he wants to meet Miranda.”

Peggy waited.

“I don’t really know yet.  It’s weird.  The whole thing.  He looks like we’re the same age and…I don’t know what to say and…”

“And Steve’s no help there.”

“No.  He’s really bad at conversation.  He says he doesn’t know how to talk to girls.”

“He never has.  I’m sure his long nap didn’t help that any.”

“He said he felt like Rip Van Winkle.”

“I’m sure he must.  Darling, he is the most loving, most honest, most sincere man I’ve ever met.  At one time, I was head over heels in love with him and he drove me crazy half the time.  I’m sure he’d be less infuriating as a father figure, certainly, less so than I have been to you.”

“Mum, that’s not fair.  Mostly, I was just upset because you wouldn’t tell me about my father.”

“Do you understand now?”

Reluctantly Andy replied, “Yes.”

“Good.  Now, not to rush you, but I have a beautiful goddess waiting in my bedroom for me so could we put a move on this?”

Andy rolled her eyes for form.  “By all means, let’s not let this impact your sex life.”

“Yes.  Let’s not.”

“Ta Ta ‘feted’ Miranda last night.”

“Yes, darling I know.  I was there.”

“Well, she carried her home and Miranda woke up today hungover and I gave her the numbing herbs and she said, ‘death would be an improvement at this point.’”

“Poor thing.  I remember exactly what that’s like.  Your grandmother almost killed me the first time.  This would have been after you were born for a celebration of your birth.  What did we do?”  Peggy tapped her forefinger to her chin in thought.

Diana returned to the room on her way to the dining room.  She picked up a plate off the table there.  “I took you to the baths after the second day.  We had to feed Andy goat’s milk because she refused to nurse.  I think your milk tasted like wine for a few days.”

“I had forgotten that.”

“So did you just bathe her in the baths?”

“Oh no, I was not allowed to go into the baths with her yet.”  At this she shot Peggy a look of indulgent censure.  A look that said clearly, _I told you so._  “I carried her there and then had Hydna help her in the baths.  I paced outside with you.”  Then Diana sat down next to Peggy and held her hand.

“But I thought…when did the two of you get together?”

“Darling, that story deserves not to be rushed.  Let’s worry about your girl.  Shall we?”

“Okay.”

“Numbing herbs, baths and she needs to make sure she doesn’t get dehydrated.  I’d suggest some water with the number five tonic.  It should have enough electrolytes in it that she’ll begin to feel human again.”

“Okay.  I’ll go now.”

As Peggy was standing up to walk into the dining room she said absently, “Tell Miranda we hope she feels better.  She doesn’t have to worry about anything for the next few days.  Tell her to take it easy.”

Behind Peggy’s back, Andy shot a questioning look at her mother who slowly closed both eyes and pursed her lips.  So her mum still didn’t know about the party.  That was a minor miracle.  “I will, Mum.  I better head back.”

Her mothers caught each other’s eyes.  Andy knew they were no longer listening to her.  “I was thinking I’d see if Miranda wanted to jump off the north cliffs while she’s hung over.”  No response.  They kept staring at one another.  “Then I was going to teach her about the history of human sacrifice to certain ancient gods.  I might see if some of the girls are up to a current demonstration.”

“Have fun, my darling.”

Andy sighed.  “Thanks.  I’d tell you the same but…nevermind.  Bye.”  Andy left.

Looking at Peggy, Diana asked, “Did she say something about human sacrifice?”

Peggy had walked to the couch and stood in front of Diana.  Pulling the tie to her robe so that it opened, she straddled Diana’s lap.  “What, love?”

“Nothing.  I’m sure it’s fine.”  She trailed one fingertip down the long line of Peggy’s neck, down her breast and circled a nipple.  Diana smiled at the goosebumps that broke out over the skin.  Peggy closed her eyes and shivered.  “Now where were we, misí kardiá mou?”

Peggy threaded the fingers of her left hand through Diana’s hair.  “We should start over.  I don’t want to miss anything,” Peggy said and smiled into their kiss.

 

o0o

 

Andy knew that negotiation of any kind with Miranda Priestly was dicey.  Negotiation with a hungover Miranda?  Suicidal.  She went with path of least resistance.  She decided she’d carry Miranda to the baths.  Which, all in all, went better than she thought.

As they were coming back from the baths, Miranda with her face hidden in Andy’s neck said, “This is ridiculous.  I’m not an invalid.”

“Can you walk without pain?”

“Well, no.”

“Then hush.”

“I have not been carried since I was a small child.  I didn’t even allow my husbands to do such a thing.”

Andrea chuckled.  “Your memory of last night must be a little fuzzy.”

“What do you mean?”  Miranda tentatively raised her head.

“Ta Ta carried you home.”

“What?”

“Ta Ta carried…”

“You mean to tell me that your grandmother carried me to our villa like this?”

Andy couldn’t contain her smile.  “No, she carried you over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes.”

“She what?”

“You held your shoes in your hand.  She was upset you kept ‘bouncing your pointy shoes’ off her ass.”

“Oh, god.”  Miranda tucked her head back into Andy’s neck.  “Andrea, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“Hey, hey,” Andy said and stopped walking.  “Miranda, look at me.”  Miranda looked up at her.  “Honey, Ta Ta thought it was hilarious.  She told me you were very entertaining and she wholeheartedly approved of you.  She set out to get you drunk and to entertain you.  It’s a very old tradition.  But the last human she entertained for the first time was my mum so she’s a little out of practice.”

“But your mum still lives here.”

“Ah, yeah.  Amazon wine is stronger than wine in man’s world.  Mum knows her limits now and Ta Ta forgets how much is too much for others.  I think she was just trying to keep you from worrying about me.”

“Still, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”

“Miranda, you do _not_ embarrass me.  Actually, I like knowing this different side to you.  You’ve been kinda different here.  Not bad.  Just…more you?  I guess.  Those private moments that are usually just for me.  That’s more of who you are here.”

“They are your family.  I want them to know me, not my image.”

Andy smiled.  “Thank you.”

Andy began to walk again and Miranda tucked her head back into the crook of Andy’s neck.  After a while, she felt Miranda tense in her arms.  She knew she was gearing up to say something but she also knew that if she ever wanted to hear what it was she needed to remain silent and let Miranda get there on her own.

Still hiding her face Miranda said, “Andrea, you have been different here also.  I find myself ashamed that I know so little about you.”

Andy stumbled but caught herself.  She had a moment’s panic about whether or not to keep walking but decided not to make the moment bigger.  “What are you talking about?”

Miranda’s fingers were nervously playing with the fabric just above Andy’s left collarbone.  “You’re a warrior, my darling, an Amazon.  You are more confident here, more aggressive.  I had no idea about you and your true nature, but looking back you’ve been showing it to me since the beginning.  I am sorry.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.  First, I get that the island full of Amazons is a lot.  Second, yeah my mother is Wonder Woman and my father is Captain America.  Okay, but I didn’t _know_ my father was him until yesterday.  So you can’t count that against me.  Third, my other mother is like a super spy that your grandfather used to tell you stories about.  Again, that one can’t count against me because I didn’t know that.  Fourth, so I’m older than I look.  So are a lot of people.  I get that that was a lot, okay?  But I can’t help that.  Fifth…I think that’s it.  Right?”

“What about the part where you’re a trained Amazon warrior who defeated Wonder Woman in combat?”

“Well, that was just awesome,” Andy said grinning.

“I’m glad you find this so amusing.”

“What do you want me to say?  Wait.  Has this changed how you feel about me?  Because you said…”

“Of course not!”  Miranda raised her head.  She put her hand on Andy’s cheek.  “I meant what I said.  I meant everything I said.  Nothing could change the way I feel about you and I am ashamed that I didn’t know all these things about you.  I wonder what someone like you sees in someone like me.”

“Miranda…”

“No, Andrea, let me finish.  You are so good.  I’ve done things of which I’m not proud.  I’m thrice divorced.  I’m merely an adequate mother.”

“Miranda…”

“And you, you are not my clumsy but adorable lover.  You are just exactly what you said the day we arrived, ‘a trained Amazon warrior,’ and I have no idea what that woman could want from me.  How I could ever be anything…”

“Stop.  Just stop.  Miranda, you and the girls are everything to me.  You walk into a room and you’re all I can see.  All those months I worked for you, I fell for you against my will.  I left you because I couldn’t stand to only have part of you.  I knew you didn’t see me then.  But then when we started talking again, I knew you saw me.  You have the most brilliant mind.  You see things no one else sees.  You are so beautiful.  I don’t have words for how beautiful you are.  You love like no one I’ve ever…well, with the exception of my parents, you love like no one else.  It’s no wonder they call you the Dragon Lady.  You’ll go to war with anyone who dares to try and hurt the girls or me.”

“You would tell me all of this while I’m still somewhat incapacitated.”

Andy smiled.  “Now let’s get back to this adorable lover thing.  You think I’m adorable?”

Miranda rolled her eyes.  “Remember, Andrea smug does not suit you.”

“Whatever, you think I’m adorable anyway.”

Maybe it was the fact she still had a low level headache.  Maybe it was the fact that Andrea had carried her almost a mile to and from the baths and she had never felt so safe in someone’s arms.  Miranda smiled a small smile and tucked her head back into Andrea’s neck.  “I do.”

Andy wisely did not acknowledge this but she squeezed Miranda a little tighter and thought, _I think you are too._

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony calls to warn "Aunt" Peggy. All Hydra breaks loose. History repeats itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry but stay with me.

Diana was trailing kisses down Peggy’s neck, nipping her playfully with her teeth when Peggy’s watch rang again.  Peggy had taken it off and put it across the room but it had been ringing insistently for the last little while.  “Love, hold that thought.  I need to get that.  It’s Anthony.  He’s either being kidnapped again or he wants to tell me that Ms. Potts has finally taken leave of her senses and decided to make an honest man of him.”

Diana sighed.  “Sometimes I hate technology.  I’m glad most of it doesn’t work here.” Then she kissed Peggy’s cheek.

“Me too,” Peggy said as she walked to pick up her watch.

“Hello.”

“Aunt Peggy, are you avoiding me?”

“Why ever would I do that, Anthony?”

“Oh I dunno.  Here’s a better question – Did you send Wonder Woman to kidnap Captain America?”

“I’m not going to insult either of us by answering that.”

“Obviously a ‘yes,’ but we have bigger fish.  Are you currently in the Aegean with Captain America?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well I’m speeding toward a low level radioactive signature that means he’s there.  The two of you were pretty close and you haven’t answered the phone since he’s been missing.  I went to where your signal said you were in Romania and you’re not there.  So two and two.”

“What do you mean ‘low level radioactive signature’?”

“Cap has been injected with a radioactive tag.  It acts like a homing beacon, even there, unlike my technology unfortunately.  It’s searchable from all over the globe and accurate within a thousand foot radius.”

“A beacon…,” Peggy trailed off and Diana stood in anticipation.  She gestured to the door and Peggy nodded.

“Yes, but I have more bad news.  There’s a Hydra force on the way to your location, or Cap’s location.”

“Damn.”

“Nifty trick that wherever you are moves at sunset.  It’s kept them away from you for the time being but they should be there in about an hour.  I’m running just a tad late.  Is it some sort of portal?”

“Anthony, you know I can’t stand tardiness.”

Tony laughed.  “Yes, Aunt Peggy.”

“How many are there?”

“There are two ships and we figure about five to six hundred.  They had forces deployed in all the locations you’ve been to in the last couple of days, trying to anticipate where you’d be.  I was in New York when we figured everything out.”

“Who’s we?”

“Agent Romanoff finished interrogating a Hydra mole in S.H.I.E.L.D.  I’m afraid she took her betrayal personally.”

“I hope Natasha didn’t kill whoever it was...She didn’t, did she?”

“Sympathy for Hydra?”

“No dear, for Natasha.  She has enough ‘red in her books’ already.”

“Well, the nurse who leaked the information is alive and furious in a holding cell at the Triskelion.”

“Leaked.  She didn’t inject him?”

“That’s unclear.”

“Who then?”  When he didn’t answer for a time, it came to her. “Fury,” she said heatedly.  “Did you ask him?”

“Director Fury is almost as good at dodging questions as you are.”

“When this is over Nicholas and I are having a chat.”

“I almost feel sorry for him.”

“We’ll see you in a bit then?”

“Yes.”

“When you get to the fog, you’re almost there.”

“Fog?”

“Yes, dear.  Then a beautiful island.”

“Is it just the three of you?  Do you have somewhere safe to hide?”

“We have an army, Anthony and I do not hide.”

“Yes, Aunt Peggy.”

“Safe travels.”

“See you soon.”

Peggy hung up the phone and looked up to see Diana in her Wonder Woman regalia holding a watch with the El crest on it.  “You heard, I assume?”

“Some.  How many?”

“Possibly six hundred in two ships.  Have you called Kal?”

“Not yet.  I wanted to wait until I knew whether we needed him or not.  Six hundred heavily armed men in two ships seems to qualify.  I’ll call him and then I’ll go tell mother to prepare.”

“You’re mother has been prepared since you were born,” Peggy said and reached up to caress Diana’s cheek.

Diana returned the gesture and put her hands on either side of Peggy’s head, gently holding it.  “I still need to let her know her preparations are about to be tested.”  Peggy nodded in response and Diana said, “I want you to be careful, misí kardiá mou.  You’re still recovering.”

“Love, if I haven’t dislodged them in the last twenty-four hours they aren’t going anywhere.”

Diana sighed. Then asked, “What will we do about, Miranda?”

“Hmm…she is the only non-combatant on the island; isn’t she?  I wonder if we can convince Andrea to protect her.”

“Yes.  Go try that.  I’m going to talk to mother.”  Diana moved her hands to Peggy’s shoulders.

“Kiss for luck?”

“Audentes Fortuna iuvat.”

“Yes, my brave bold beauty, it does,” Peggy said as she pulled Diana down into a kiss.

 

o0o

 

Andy was up and moving before she registered what she was hearing.  Once they had gotten back to the villa she had put Miranda on the bed and laid down with her.  Andy hadn’t really been napping but she had lulled herself into sort of a meditative state by trailing her fingers lightly over Miranda’s back, over and over again but still she was up in an instant.

Miranda squinted her eyes against the noise.  “What is that?  Is that some sort of…horn?”

“It’s a warning.  We have to get to our battle positions.”

“Battle positions?”

“Yes.  It’s an invasion warning.”

“Invasion?”

“Miranda!  Are you just going to keep repeating what I say?”

“When what you say is so fantastic, it seems my only recourse.”

Before Andy could reply there was a knock on the door of the villa.  Without waiting for an answer, Peggy was striding into the bedroom.  “Andrea, as you’ve heard we’re expecting an invasion.  As Miranda is a non-combatant, your mother and I thought you should stay with her to protect her.”

Andy looked from her mum to Miranda.  Then shook her head.  “Nice try, Mum, but you’re closer to a non-combatant than I am right now.  How about you stay here with Miranda and I go help Mother?”  She moved to change into her armor.

“Andrea, be reasonable.  You haven’t trained in ages,” Peggy tried to argue.

“And I beat mother for the first time ever just yesterday.  I’ll be fine.”  At the look of worry on Miranda’s face, she finished fastening her chest plate and walked over to cup Miranda’s face in her hands.  “I’ll be fine.  I love you.”  Then she kissed Miranda passionately.

When she pulled away Miranda held on to her hands for a moment.  Then nodded her head wordlessly.

Andy said, “Take care of each other.”

Finally, Miranda called out just as Andy was leaving the front door.  “Andrea!”  She stopped and turned to face Miranda who continued, “Remember, you can do anything, even make a dragon love you back.”

Andy grinned.  “You bet your ass I can.”  Then she was gone.

Miranda turned to Peggy.  “What the hell is going on?”

“We’re about to be invaded.  Hydra has sent a force for Steve but they won’t care who they have to hurt to get him.  If they could capture Diana also, I’m sure they would consider that a great victory.”

“And Andrea as well.”

“They don’t know about, Andrea.”

“They will soon enough.  You’ve seen her fight.”

“No.  I’ve seen her train and so have you.  Fighting is different altogether.”

“I…”

“She’ll be fine, Miranda.  Diana will protect her.”

“But…”

“Diana will protect her.  Come on, we need to get you into something more battle appropriate.  You’re rather petite, though, so we may have to get creative.”

“Never let it be said that I went anywhere less than suitably attired.”

 

o0o

 

“Andy, you’ll do what I say when I say it.  No questions.”

“Yes, Mother.  I know.”

“I mean it.”

“I know, Mother.  I won’t fail you.”

“Misí kardiá mou, I’m not worried about that.  I’m worried you won’t see danger and rush in too soon.  If I say hold, I mean it.  No matter what.”

“I…”

“Andy,” Hippolyta interrupted because she didn’t think a fight between her daughter and granddaughter in front of her generals was good for morale. “This is her first battle with her child in tow.  She’s dealing with this much better than I would have.  Our first battle together was a complete surprise.  So that was probably best for me.”  She put her hands on both Andy and Diana’s shoulders.  “Let me say what I did not have the chance to say then.  To both of you this time.  I am proud of the women you have become.  If this was all you ever did, I couldn’t be more proud.  I love you both will all my heart.”  They all hugged then and just as Hippolyta was about to speak again, Miranda, Peggy and Steve walked in to the war room.  

Andy felt like her head was on a swivel.  Miranda had on armor, armor that looked like it had been made for her.  “What in the fresh hell?  Mum, you can’t be serious.  Miranda can’t fight.  I forbid it.”

“Forbid,” Miranda said as if she was struck by the word’s distastefulness.  “Be very careful what comes out of your mouth next, darling.”

“Miranda, you’re not trained.  You have no experience.  I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you.”

“Darling, this is so I blend in.  Besides, I’ve never been anywhere that I was not dressed for the occasion if I could help it.  I’m not going to jump into the fray.  You can’t believe that any of us planned for that.”

“I…I’m sorry.”

After a moment Steve spoke, “What about me?   I can fight.  I used to be pretty good at this.”

“Captain, you will also need to be suitably attired,” Hippolyta answered.

“In that Roman get up?”

“It actually predates the Romans by a couple of centuries,” Andy replied.

“Still, it looks…breezy,” he said.

Most of the women in the room laughed.  “You’ll get used to it soon enough I think,” Diana answered.

“I don’t know…”

He was interrupted by Hippolyta, “Captain, these men are here looking for you.  They are coming for _you_.  I want you on that field just as much as you want to be there because I believe you that you are ‘good at this’ and I would never overlook a possible advantage in battle.  However, if you go out on that field not dressed like the rest of my warriors, you will endanger those between you and this...this Hydra, and that I will not have.  If you go out on that field, you will go dressed as an Amazon.  They will find you eventually but we will not make it easier for them.”

“I understand.”

“Good.”  Hippolyta said to the entire room, “Now, let’s go introduce these _men_ to the wrath of the Amazons.”

All the women in the room whooped out a war cry.

 

The men had come ashore in boats like the men almost a hundred years before, but these men had guns that seemed to shoot continuously.  Hippolyta was glad Peggy had managed the transition to some updated bullet-proof armor.  She was sure it saved some of her warriors.  Diana had lead a contingent on horseback from the north side of the beach, Andy fighting beside her bravely.  Hippolyta could see them across the beach.  She and her cohorts had taken out the majority of the men on their side of the beach.  Still, they only totaled about three hundred men on shore.  The others were shooting from the relative safety of the water.  Cowards.

Peggy and Miranda were up on the cliff directing the archers.  The boats were camouflaged in holograms so it was impossible to gauge how many men there really were.  It looked like there were twenty boats in the water when in reality there were probably less than half that.  Once arrows pierced the veil of illusion, they’d regenerate somewhere else.  Hippolyta could not tell what was and was not real.  Volleys of arrows would fall directly into the sea hitting nothing until the intervention of the two women who were linked with her daughter and granddaughter.  Who knew the “fashion high priestess,” as she’d heard Andy refer to her, could coordinate an attack?  And effectively it seemed.  Another boat was overcome by arrows.  

Hippolyta felt like the tide had turned and then the first cannon fire hit.  The beach exploded to her right.  She called out battle formations and saw Diana doing the same on the other side of the beach, Andy by her side.  To Hippolyta’s left, Captain Rogers was mowing through men at a pace that would get him noticed even in the fog of war if he wasn’t careful.  The men in the boats were going to stay where they were and let the artillery fire finish them off.  Cowards.

She was about to call for a retreat when one of the boats exploded.  She looked up in time to see a metal man fly overhead like one of Hephaestus’ automatons.  This must be Peggy’s godson, the Iron Man.  He was shooting pulses of energy out of the lights in his hands that had tremendous power.  He took out another boat, then another and had aimed at a fourth when one of the boats fired back.  There was a loud thrumming sound and he fell from the sky like a stone.

Hippolyta yelled over the chaos, “Call for the first reserve phalanx!  We need to have cover to move the wounded!”

“Yes, my queen,” Artemis answered.

The call went out and more cavalry joined the fight on the beach. In the ensuing seconds, the warriors who were able to move helped drag, and in some cases carry, their wounded sisters out of harm’s way for now.  They even managed to pull Tony to relative safety. 

During all this, the archers had doubled their efforts and the boats were retreating out of arrow range.  The cannon fire was coming from one of the larger ships but at least the small artillery fire was subsiding somewhat.  Hippolyta looked toward the shore and contemplated what to do.  The flying man would have been helpful.  There was no way to take one of those ships in broad daylight, not and have any of her warriors survive.

If they could push Hydra beyond the fog, then it would likely be a while before they could find them again.  Otherwise, the only thing to do would be to take back to high ground and leave lookouts to see if the men were brave enough to try to invade the land again.  The fighting on the beach had died down and her forces were rounding up the hydra soldiers left on the beach when it happened.  It was like that old memory playing in her mind yet again.  Except this time, it was Andy with her back to the man with the gun and Diana who saw it when she didn’t.

She heard someone scream, “No!” but she couldn’t tell if it was her or someone on the cliff.  In the blink of an eye, Diana was between Andy and the man with the gun that was firing bullets like a stream of water from a fountain.  Diana blocked them with her bracelets, but because she had run from the other direction to get between them just in time, one bullet, one single bullet, ricocheted off her bracelet and into her neck.

Captain Rogers was there an instant too late.  He killed the man from Hydra by twisting his head around so far Hippolyta thought he was going to rip it off his neck.

Andy fell to her knees by her mother’s side, holding her hands over Diana’s throat.  “Mother!  Mother!  Stay with me!  Oh Gods!  Please, stay with me!”

Hippolyta got there as fast as she could.  It felt like lifetimes.  She knelt by Diana who looked at her, then Andy and said simply, “Antiope.”

Hippolyta nodded and held Diana’s hand to her heart.  “I will tell her.  You would have made Antiope very proud.  You did make her very proud.  I have always been proud of you my daughter, my greatest love.”

Diana looked to Captain Rogers and a silent conversation happened between them.  He said, “You have my word.  I’ll look after them.”

Finally, Diana with her other hand took Andy’s hands off her throat, and said, “Misí kardiá mou.”  Then she squeezed Andy’s hands and closed her eyes.

“No!  Mother!  No!”  Andy cried and clutched at Diana.

Hippolyta had no idea how long she and Andy knelt there.  There may have been more cannon fire but she couldn’t be sure.  She was vaguely aware of people approaching.  When Peggy arrived Hippolyta finally looked up and ceded her place to her.

As Hippolyta rose, Peggy knelt in the sand. “Oh, love.”  Peggy’s voice broke, “what have you done?”

Miranda had arrived with Peggy and she was cradling Andy who accidentally had smeared Diana’s blood all over Miranda and was sobbing into her shoulder.

Hippolyta looked around and the warriors that were not restraining or guarding prisoners were standing there weeping.  She took a deep breath.  The battle wasn’t over.  Even though the boats were retreating the ships still had cannons, which she could now tell were silent.  

She took a deep breath and spoke, willing her voice to be strong, “Amazons.  We must do what’s next.  The battle isn’t over.  We will need the Lasso of Hestia.”

Kara Zor El, the Kryptonian flew overhead.  She landed on the beach and looked to Hippolyta.  “I disabled the ships’ cannons and detained all the men on the two ships.  It’ll take a few minutes for the men in boats to row to the ships.  Diana?”  Hippolyta found she could not answer. She could only shake her head. 

“What do you need,” Kara asked.

“I need those ships out of the aegis of the island, and I need every man on them not to know where he’s been.  I’ll need you to transport Menalippe to the ships to use the lasso so that they do not remember.  So that they can never bring their evil to our island again.”

“I brought this evil to your island, Queen Hippolyta.  I should go,” Captain Rogers said.

“I can fix that.  I just need a knife,” Tony interjected.

Kara asked, “Which one of you is, Menalippe?”

“I am,” A tall woman with dark hair and olive skin said stepping forward.  She looked to Diana’s body and then to Hippolyta and asked, “My queen?”

Hippolyta saw the problem.  Menalippe would not take the lasso from Diana’s body.  Hippolyta leaned down between Peggy and Andy.   She looked at her beautiful daughter and slowly removed the lasso.  Andy started to protest but Peggy stopped her.  “Andrea, let your grandmother do what has to be done.  Needs must.  Your mother would want everyone as safe as they could be.  Your grandmother’s plan is the best way.”

“But…”

“It must be done now.”  She looked up to Tony.  “All of it.”

He nodded.  “Yes, Aunt Peggy.”

Hippolyta handed the lasso to Menalippe.  “Go.  Start with the boats before they reach the ships.  Then the ships.  Use the shallow rock shelf if you can.  It will make the ship easier to immobilize.  Will the two of you be able to handle this alone?”

Menalippe looked to Kara who nodded then she answered,  “Yes, my queen.”

Kara hooked an arm around Menalippe’s waist and they shot skyward.

Hippolyta looked around.  Her warriors were standing and staring.  “The dead will not bury the living.  You have living sisters who need your attention more than Diana in this moment.”  She picked some who were Andy’s favorites.  “Artemis, Calliope, Astrea, Narcissa, Euboea and Venelia, carry my…Diana…Diana’s body to the baths for a ritual cleansing.”

“Yes, my queen,” a few of them answered softly.

They quickly assembled a makeshift litter with shields and some rope.  Peggy, Andy and Miranda stood and backed away.  The six Amazons placed Diana’s body on it and slowly carried her to the baths.  Hippolyta almost broke then.  She looked to the horizon to compose herself and saw Kara lifting one of the ships into the air, Menalippe on her back.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miranda is getting much better at talking to super-powered people. Peggy says goodbye.

It had been hours.  Miranda had no frame of reference for the last few days of her life.  But the last few hours?  Battle?  Blood?  Almost losing Andrea?  Bone deep terror.  She had finally gotten Andrea in the shower in their suite and cleaned off Diana’s blood.  Andrea was lost like a child.  Miranda had bathed her, asked one of the Amazon guards to get her a sedative, given it to her and finally put her to bed, Andrea clinging to her as if she would disappear.

Miranda couldn’t settle.  Every time she closed her eyes she saw that horrible man pointing a gun at Andrea.  Eventually, she got up with the intention of working to take her mind off everything.  She had just connected to her email when there was a soft knock at the door.  Believing it to be Peggy, she opened the door without checking who it was.

“I’m sorry.  I was looking for Andy,” Supergirl said.

“She’s resting.  Come in, please.”  Miranda closed the door then gestured to one of the chairs.  “Can I get you anything?”

“No.  I…I just came to pay my respects to Andy.  Diana was always very kind to me.  So were Andy and Peggy for that matter.  Themyscira is somewhat of a safe haven to me.  Hippolyta has made sure of that.  Everyone here is always so kind and welcoming to me.  I’m so sorry I didn’t get here earlier.  Kal - my cousin, was unable to come.  He’s dealing with intergang and...I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for…what should I call you?”

“Oh, uh…I’m Supergirl.”

“I got that part, dear.  What’s your name?”

“Umm…that’s classified?”

“I bet Cat Grant could find out.”

Supergirl looked like a deer in headlights.  “What makes you say that?”

Miranda arched an eyebrow.  “Besides the fact that CatCo named you?  Besides that?”

“Oh.  Yeah.”

Miranda couldn’t hold back her smirk.  This girl was like an open book.  So without guile she almost felt guilty for the tiny amusement she was about to allow herself.  “Well, Miss Danvers, it’s probably because the first time I saw you, you were attached to Catherine like one of the oversized handbags she prefers.  Shall I call you Kara or is it Kiera?”

“Oh Rao.”

“Is that your family name,” Miranda asked and tilted her head.

“No.  That’s a god on my planet.  Was…well, Rao still is even if Krypton is not.”  She brought her hands together in her lap and fidgeted.  “I…”

“Stop.  If you do not wish to acknowledge the truth of my statements, that doesn’t change what I know.  I can keep your secret just as I have kept the secrets of others when called upon to do so.  I merely thought you and I could, here in this place, do away with pretense.  Andrea needs support right now and she doesn’t have the ability at the moment to keep anyone’s secrets.  I’m sure she would want you around but would be afraid of ‘slipping up.’  So perhaps you can see it within yourself to allow me to know what I know so that she doesn’t feel that added pressure.  Is that a workable solution for you?”

“Yes, Ms. Priestly.”

“Catherine may demand that, but I’ve always thought it pretentious.  Please call me Miranda.  Everyone does.”

“Yes, Miranda.”

“Better.”  Miranda nodded her head.  “Can I get you some food?  Something to drink?”

“Oh, no.  I…”

Miranda held up her hand to stop Kara’s protests.  “Even I am hungry after a flight halfway around the world and I have the assistance of an airplane.  I’m sure after all you’ve done today you require some sustenance.  Unless you don’t eat?”

“Oh I eat all right.  My adoptive mother says it was the biggest drawback to raising me, the food bills.”

Miranda held back a small smile.  “I’m sure you know better what is available here more so than I do.  As much as Andrea loves carbohydrates, she would never forgive me if I deprived someone of them.”

Kara laughed.  “You know, you’re really funny.”

“It’s what I’m known for after all, that and my easy-going nature.”

Kara laughed so hard she had to lay down on the sofa.

Miranda smirked.  “Perhaps you’re suffering from some form of Stockholm Syndrome.”

Kara snorted and without raising her head said, “Probably.”

 

o0o

 

Peggy walked past the honor guard standing watch outside the baths.  They bowed to her in an acknowledgment of her loss.  She acknowledged them with a slight nod of her head.  She had left Anthony, Hippolyta and Steve to finish the planning of next steps.  She was no good to them.  All she wanted to do was weep, stiff upper lip be damned.  She had to see Diana.  It was her only thought.

She walked  into the shallow pool where they had arranged Diana.  The water was blood red. Diana was on a narrow shelf wrapped in an Amazon burial cloth.  Peggy uncovered her face.  Even in death, Diana was still the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen.  “Oh, Love…” She began to sob.  “How will I…?”

She held Diana’s face in her hands and sobbed for a long time afterward.  Finally, she began speaking as if Diana could hear her, “You know, losing the love of your life twice doesn’t seem fair.”  She let go of Diana’s face and turned away, unable to look at her for the moment.  “Though honestly, I fear I had no idea what that meant last time.”  She sighed.  “A few years, even in wartime, is nothing when matched against a lifetime.”  She turned back and caressed Diana’s cheek.  “You gave me the best life.  I know it was better than I deserved but I’ll always be grateful for what you did for Andrea.”

The tears were flowing down her cheeks uninhibited, Peggy not even aware of them falling onto the wrappings covering Diana’s neck.  “When my flaps jammed I knew I was in for it.  Just as I’d resigned myself to crashing in the middle of the ocean i came through the fog and there before me was the bluest water I’d ever seen.  Once I’d survived the water landing, I never thought about the canopy jamming.  As the water spilled into the cockpit I thought, ‘well, at least I’ll be with Steve’ before I saw what to my oxygen deprived brain had to be a mermaid.  I thought I was hallucinating.  Then I woke up in hospital with you holding my hand and I decided that I must be in heaven.

“When your physician, Althea, told me I was pregnant I decided that it wasn’t heaven.  I didn’t want to be pregnant without Steve.  I didn’t want to...well, you know.  I have no idea why I’m rehashing this now.  I guess I feel like this is the last time I’ll get to talk to you.  You were so wonderful in those months, so solid, so dependable, so...loving.  You’d smile at me and I couldn’t breathe.

“The first time I admitted to myself I had feelings for you, you had just put Andrea down for a nap and she reached out and grasped your finger.  Unwilling to wake her, disappoint her or merely take away something she desired I saw you decide to stand there, just stand there and watch her.  Oh, I was in love with you before that, but there was no way to deny it at that point, even for someone as stubborn as myself.”

She leaned her head back and willed herself to stop crying.  Andrea needed her to be strong now.  Diana had given up everything and Peggy would not waste that type of sacrifice.  “I have no idea how to live without you, my love.  Of all the ends I saw to our relationship I’ll confess this one is one that never, ever crossed my mind.

“If you were here, I suppose you’d ask with that impish grin what I most imagined, and for the first year or so I’d have to say, your mother throwing me bodily off the island with my child in tow was the scenario I thought most likely.  Then, later I was the one that was going to go first.  Not a hair on your gorgeous head has changed since I’ve known you.  Meanwhile, I’m going gray and things are migrating south, albeit at a slower pace than for most humans but still.  You weren’t supposed to leave first.”  Peggy’s voice broke at that and she ruthlessly tamped down all the churning emotions. 

“I’m a foolish old woman who’s lived a life better than she deserved.  I should be thankful I knew you at all.”  With one last cleansing breath she leaned down and said, “Goodnight my sweet, princess.  I will love you, always.”  She leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to Diana’s lips.  To her surprise, Diana kissed her back.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of the battle, Andy, HIppolyta, Miranda & Kara decide what to do next.

Following the voices, Andy walked out of the bedroom, through the living room and into the dining room she found her lover and Kara sharing an enormous meal.  “Miranda?”

“Andrea, did we wake you?”

“No.  I couldn’t sleep anymore.  I dreamt…”

Miranda rose and enveloped her in a hug.  She pressed kisses to her temple.  “I’m so sorry, darling.  I should have stayed with you.”

“No.  It’s fine.  I’ve been out for hours.”  She stepped back from Miranda’s embrace and turned to their visitor.”

Kara spoke first, “Hey, Andy.”

“Hey Ka...Supergirl.”

“Darling, Ms. Danvers and I have reached an understanding.  I know some of her secrets and she knows some of mine.”

“Huh?”

“Miranda gave me some perspective on what it’s like to be a powerful woman attracted to her assistant.”

“I knew it,” Andy said to Miranda who just rolled her eyes in response.  Then Andy turned back to Kara.  “But you’re not her assistant anymore.”

“Still.  It gives me perspective.  But enough about that.  I came to see you.”  She looked at Andy and her eyebrows scrunched together.  “Are you hungry?  Sometimes if I’m upset I eat, and sometimes I can’t eat.”

“I uh…”

Miranda spoke, “The woman who brought all this food assured me that these were some of your favorite foods.”

Andy looked at the food again.  “They couldn’t think I could eat all of that could they?”

Miranda answered, “I had to get enough food for Ms. Danvers and I believe they were grateful for something useful to do.”

Andy nodded and sat down at the table.  She began picking at some of Hestia’s sesame seed candy, eventually eating some.  Miranda smiled at her and turned to Kara.  “Did you want to ask me your last question again?”

Kara swallowed the mouthful of meat she was chewing.  “If someone made a choice for you that took away your...your ‘agency’, because they loved you, could you forgive them?”

Andy harrumphed.

Miranda narrowed her eyes at Andy, then reached out and covered Andy’s hand with her own.  “I believe if Andrea did it because of her love for me, then I could forgive her almost anything.”

“What are we talking about here, Kara?  Or should I say who?  Did you finally act on your feelings for Cat Grant?” Andy picked at some flat bread.

“Yeah, and then everything went wrong…”

There were two sharp knocks on the door and Hippolyta strode into the room.  The women at the table rose in response to the power radiating off her.  Andy had never been intimidated by her grandmother before but this was Hippolyta stripped raw.  She wasn’t tempering herself for public consumption.  This was a woman who had done battle with gods.

“Ta Ta,” Andy began and Hippolyta fiercely hugged her in response.  Andy sighed, “Ta Ta.”  One lone sob escaped Hippolyta.  “Ta Ta, I’m so, so sorry.”  

Hippolyta eased back and held Andy at arm’s length.  “Andy, you have nothing for which to be sorry.  Your mother made a choice, a choice that my sister Antiope made for her.”

“Antiope died during the German invasion during World War I,” Andy said as if she was remembering it for a test for school.

“Yes, but what we never told you, what I believe was too painful for Diana to voice, was that Antiope sacrificed herself for Diana.”  Hippolyta turned at that point and took in the other inhabitants of the room.  She walked to the end of the table and poured herself a glass of Amazonian red wine.  After taking a sip, she began again.  “It was very similar to what happened today.  It was Diana’s first battle.  She didn’t see the man behind her.  Antiope did.”  She took another sip of wine and looked as if she wasn’t seeing this room but a scene that had played out before her eyes almost a hundred years ago.  “Antiope threw herself in front of the bullet meant for Diana.”

Tears fell freely from Andy’s eyes.  “Like Mother did for me.”

“Sweet one, she made me promise to tell you about Antiope today on the beach.  She wanted you to know that she loved you, like Antiope loved her.  She made the only choice she could have made.  She would not have been able to live with herself had she made another.”

“But, she shouldn’t have…”

Miranda spoke then, “Andrea, if it were Caroline or Cassidy, what choice would you have me make?  What choice would you make?”

“Oh Miranda, that’s not…”

“Would you have me watch one of my children die if I could prevent it?  Could you?”

Andy opened her mouth to speak and shut it again.  She looked down at the floor and then spoke quietly.  “I don’t know how to live with this.  I don’t know how to make it worth it.”

Before anyone else could respond, Kara spoke up, “I might know a little bit about that.”

Andy looked over at Kara and said, “Oh, Kara, I’m sorry.  I wasn’t thinking.  I’m sorry…”

“Hey, none of that now.  I was actually going to say that Diana loved you.  She wanted you to live and be happy.  That alone would have made this ‘worth it’ for her.  All you have to be is you.”

“But…” Andy began.

“I wasn’t finished,” Kara said firmly.  “You, are spectacular, just as you, but if you wanted, you could take up the mantle of Wonder Woman, I’m sure.  But you know as well as anyone, that wasn’t what made Diana special.  It was her heart, and out of everyone I’ve ever known, you have her heart, Andy.”

“But..”

Hippolyta interrupted Andy, “Kara is right.  The fact that you survived will be enough for Diana.  Just be you and stay true to yourself.  You are so very much like her.  More than I think you know.”

“You say that but the world lost a hero tonight, a beacon of hope.  She was my mother but they love her too.  How do I make up for that?”

Hippolyta put her hand on Andy’s shoulder.  “Let us mourn Diana first.  Then we can begin what comes after.”

Andy nodded her head.

Kara asked, “Queen Hippolyta, are the funeral rites only for the Amazons?”

“Kara, you know you were made an honorary Amazon many years ago.  You are free to stay.  As are you, Miranda.”

“I was thinking of Kal and the others.”  Almost to herself, “I need to tell him.”

“Ah, yes.  Well, the purification will take a day.  She will stay in the baths for that time.  They’ve already wrapped her body.  Then we will feast beginning at sundown tomorrow until sundown the following day.  Then we will burn her body on a funeral pyre outside the temple of Artemis.  Men are not allowed there.  It would be an insult to the goddess.”

“Does Mum know about these plans?  She’s okay with...with you burning Mother?”

“I believe Diana shared them with her.  Though I doubt your mum ever thought Diana would die.”  At this Hippolyta paused and collected herself before saying, “I know after she came back after destroying Ares, I certainly never thought about it.”

“Ta…,” Andy began and Hippolyta held up a hand to forestall anything she was about to say.

Kara said, “I’ll let the guys know that they have to leave.”

“They can stay in their quarters for the next few days.  Unless you think this would somehow insult them?”

“I wouldn’t think so.  Though that Tony Stark reminds me of a guy I used to know, but nicer somehow.”

“Mr. Lord,” Miranda said and managed to make it both a statement and a line of inquiry at the same time.

“You know him?”

“We’ve crossed paths.  He had quite the crush on Catherine, as I recall,” Miranda said nonchalantly.

“Yep.  You know him,”  Kara said and Andy wondered if she could save Miranda from heat vision if the need arose.

“He annoyed her to no end.  Something about him being an insufferable bore.”  Miranda picked up a grape and popped it into her mouth.

Hippolyta took in the scene but said nothing.

Kara came back to herself.  “I’ll tell the guys and then call and let Kal know and that he can’t come.”

“We’ll have another ceremony, later.  They will be free to come to that,” Hippolyta offered.

“I’ll let them know,” Kara said and was about to take her leave when Andy spoke up.

“Miranda, I want the girls here.  Could...would it be okay if Kara flew the girls here?”  Miranda looked taken aback.  Andy could tell she was figuring out the best way to handle this while Andy was so upset.  “I...I kept mother from meeting them.  Remember?” she asked, and Miranda closed her eyes slowly in response.  “She wanted to meet who she called her grandchildren and I kept her from it,” Andy tried to hold back the sob but failed.

Miranda walked to Andy and put her hand on her back.  Andy continued.  “She and I didn’t share any blood but she was my mother.  She loved me as her own.  That’s how I feel about the girls and I know she would have too.  And now...now they’ll never know.”  Andy looked into Miranda’s eyes with tears flowing from her brown ones.  “I know it’s selfish, but I want the girls here.  I need them to know something of her.  Even if...”

Miranda simply asked, “It’s safe?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t safe.  Kara can carry way heavier things than teenage girls.”

“Andrea, I was asking Kara.”

“Yes, Miranda.  Perfectly safe.   If you prefer I can fly them here separately.  I can use a sling my sister designed for multiple people if you want them to come with me at the same time.  They won’t be able to bring much luggage.  It throws the aerodynamics off a bit.”

“I’ll call their nanny and have her pack lightly for them.  Would something with a strap be okay or are you thinking backpack?”

“I could work with either.”

“I’ll take care of that and then call their father to let him know I’m sending someone to pick them up and then they will leave from the townhouse.  I’ll let you know when you need to be there.”

“Okay,” Kara paused, “You’re not going to call them and tell them I’m coming?”

“And ruin the surprise of flying with Supergirl at Andrea’s behest?  Not on your life.”

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peggy and Diana reconnect. Miranda reminisces. The others find out about Diana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the google translate. If I've unintentionally butchered someone's language, let me know please.
> 
> Also, thanks to everyone for the kudos and reviews! It really does mean so much to me that you all are invested and like my story. 
> 
> I still own none of these characters. I've borrowed from so many universes for this one. Please don't sue me.

Peggy pulled back and looked at Diana’s face.  Diana’s beautiful face and into her gorgeous eyes, her gorgeous open eyes.  “Crikey O’Reilly!”

“Misí kardiá mou, ti eínai láthos?”

“Love, that’s not English.  Can you speak in English?”

“Bien sûr, je peux.”

“French.”

“Jag talar på engelska”

“Swedish.”

Diana closed her eyes and took a slow breath.  “English...is hard.”

Peggy laughed through a sob, “Oh, Love, if you want, I’ll speak Greek to you exclusively.”  She held Diana’s face in her hands and kissed her on the forehead, her left eye, her right eye, her cheeks, her lips and finally the end of her nose.  “I’ll learn to cook for you.”

Diana laughed heartily.  “You shouldn’t threaten me like that.  I’m recovering.”

“Har de har har.”

“Why can’t I move?”

“You’re...wrapped...let me help you.”  Peggy began to unwrap Diana but realized she would have to sit up.  “Stay still.”  Peggy took a knife out of a sheath at her side and began cutting the wrappings.  As she was pulling them away she took in Diana’s body, all of Diana’s body.  “You’re nude.”

Diana looked down.  “It appears so.”

“My God, you’re perfect,” Peggy said as she touched Diana’s throat in amazement.

Diana raised her hand to touch Peggy’s cheek, “You look so beautiful, like when we first met.”

“There’s no need to flatter me.  I’m a bit long in the tooth for that.”

“I’m not flattering you, misí kardiá mou.  You look like you did right after Andy was born.  You’re glowing.”  Peggy touched her face and it felt different.  She held Diana’s hand to her face.

“Do I really?”

“Yes.  I confess I’m going to miss the silver at your temples.”

“How?”

“I don’t know, but right now I’m not going to question it.”

“Neither am I,” Peggy said as she leaned down and kissed Diana softly, slowly.  It was like a first kiss in its tentative exploration.  Peggy seemed to be refamiliarizing herself intimately with Diana’s mouth.  “I’m so glad I get to still do this,” she said against Diana’s lips.

“Me too,” Diana said kissing Peggy deliberately.

Regretfully, Peggy pulled away.  “Darling, everyone thinks you’re dead, your mother, Andrea.  We have to go tell them.”

“How long?”

“I’m not sure.  Hours at least.  It seemed endless to me.  I…”

“Shh…” DIana sat up and held her.  “It’s over now.  Let’s go and let everyone know.  What is the situation with Hydra?”  Diana said as she sat back and released Peggy.

“After Menalippe and Kara used the lasso on them, they were pushed back beyond the borders of the island.  They will not remember being here.  Anthony disabled the tracker that Steve had embedded in the back of his arm.  So they won’t be able to find the island again.”

“Good.”

“We need to get you some clothes.”

“I do not mind going like this,” Diana said and gestured to her body.

“Princess, if you think you’re leaving here like that you have another thing coming.”

Diana grinned.  “Jealousy after all these years?”

“I was thinking of our guests.”

“Um hum.”

“I’m sure I can find something.  Don’t...on second thought, come with me.  I don’t want to take any chances that this will all be a dream,” Peggy said as she held out her hand.

“Yes, misí kardiá mou, whatever you say.”

 

o0o

 

Kara had been gone about fifteen minutes and Miranda was sitting in a cushioned wicker chair by the open window watching Hippolyta and Andrea, who were seated on the sofa, murmur to one another.  They both looked shell shocked to her, holding hands and every now and then one of them would remember something and tell the other who would smile a watery smile.  She wanted to comfort Andrea, be useful in some way, but knew that what the woman needed now was someone who had loved Diana as much as she had.  So she sat, stared out into the night and kept Andrea in her peripheral vision.

Andrea needed the comfort of family now and that she considered the twins family...well, Miranda was just thankful for the miracle that was Andrea.  Her girls loved Andrea fiercely.  She was marvelous with the girls, just the right amount of authority and fun.  The girls still pranked Andrea but after she began to prank them back, they had slowed down considerably and she had won their respect and affection.

After the press had gotten wind of Miranda and Andrea’s relationship and some very unflattering things had been said in the papers about Andrea, the girls had somehow hacked into the online version of The Post.  Thus far, no one had been able to prove anything.  Miranda had upped her retainer amounts to her lawyers, just in case.  The page had exposed the secrets of every gossip reporter at that unfortunate publication.  Of course, the police and the FBI had showed up at her office accusing her of reigning destruction down on her enemies who had dared to besmirch her lover.  Miranda’s confusion was genuine at the time. 

Miranda thought back to that night.  When she had offhandedly mentioned it at dinner and the fact that the authorities would not stop until they found the culprits, Andrea looked at her with concern and said, “Really, Miranda you shouldn’t have done it.  I don’t care what they say.  If I get to be with you and the girls, I don’t give a damn what anyone else says.”

Her twin terrors were oddly silent to this declaration and were staring resolutely at their plates pushing their dinner around.  Miranda felt a frisson of fear.  “Girls?”

No answer.

“Girls,” more forcefully.  They looked up and Miranda could see it instantly on Cassidy’s face.  Caroline’s expression was a bit harder to decipher but since she looked at that expression everyday in the mirror she was able to discern it easily enough.

Then Andrea spoke with concern dripping off her words, “Girls, you didn’t do anything stupid for me did you?”

Because she she shared her mother’s stoic disposition it was odd, that it was Caroline who broke first.  “No.  It wasn’t stupid.  They’ll think before they do it again.”

Andrea got up and knelt between them.  “Girls, not that I don’t appreciate the effort, but I’m a big girl.  I can take care of myself.  The four of us know the truth and that’s enough for me.”  She paused and then continued, “But why when they said something about me?  They say awful stuff about your mother all the time.  Why not go after them then?”

“Mom won’t leave,” Cassidy whispered.

“Leave?”

Caroline picked up the thread of conversation.  “We were afraid you’d leave.”

“Look at me, both of you.  I will not leave unless your mother wants me to go, and I mean really wants me to go, not like she’s mad because I left my messenger bag in the floor mad, but really, really does not want to be with me anymore.”  Andrea looked up at Miranda then.  Miranda could see the promise on her face, the love.

Miranda let all the love in her eyes show, communicating wordlessly.

Andrea nodded and her face broke into a grin.

“Now, you two.   What am I going to do with you,” Miranda asked.

Caroline said emphatically, “Uh...we were defending Andy’s honor!”

“Do you have any idea what types of penalties you are facing if you’re caught?  How many laws you’ve broken?”

Cassidy tried her argument.  “Mommm!  They said she was a gold-digger that slept her way to a recommendation at a substandard publication after a lover’s spat.  They said she must not have been very good only to get a job at the Mirror!  They said maybe this time she could get a better job if she could satisfy the Ice Queen!”

“Bobbsies, you know Mummie loves that you want to defend Andrea but you need to leave this to the adults.  Besides, not a word of that was true and you know it.  We must never let them know that they’ve hurt our feelings.  I’m sorry, but we’re going to start with no electronics for a month.  Then re-evaluate.  I think perhaps we’ll throw in some public service too.  Think about what type of project on which you might want to work.”

Angry faces met Miranda.  Then finally, “Yes, Mom.”

“Bobbsies, I must ask you.  Will the FBI show up here?”

Caroline looked like the Cheshire cat.  “No.  We covered our tracks and used some burner devices that can’t be traced to us.”

“Don’t look so pleased.  A simple ‘no’ would have been sufficient.  I don’t want to know any more than necessary.  Now, clear the table.  Notify your friends you will not be participating in online life for the next thirty days and bring all your electronics to the study.”

Andrea and Miranda walked into the study to wait on the girls.  Andrea turned to look at Miranda and they both burst into quiet giggles.

“I can’t believe they took down The Post for me!”

“They love you as I do, Andrea,” Miranda said as she pulled her in for a kiss.

“Hopefully not as you do,” Andrea said pulling away from the kiss.

“Maybe not exactly as I do, but with just as much intensity it seems.”

Miranda was brought out of her reminiscence by Hippolyta’s laughter.  “And then,” she continued to laugh, “then Peggy, said, ‘I told you we should’ve picked the north beach.’”

“Oh gods!  I’m glad I’m not the only one who used to walk in on them,” Andrea laughed.

“Indeed, I seem to remember a very awkward situation with Astrea.”  Miranda turned to the voice and emitted a gasp.  Diana stood in the doorway with Peggy, arm in arm.  They were both dressed in full-length ivory colored dresses with silver accents.  Peggy’s had an empire waist and Diana’s had a halter top that emphasized her breasts.

Andrea jumped up and ran to them.  “Mama!  Mummie!”

Miranda watched in fascination as Diana picked Andrea up off the floor and twirled her.  It reminded her of the scene in her townhome a few days ago but this was more carefree.  She had a vision of a much younger Andrea running to her mothers.  Then she noticed Peggy.  The woman now looked to be Andrea’s age.  No gray hair.  No wrinkles.

Out of the corner of her eye, Miranda saw that Hippolyta was standing with tears running down her face.  Diana walked to her mother and they hugged a long moment then clasped arms.  The stream of Greek was so fast that she only caught a few words.  Then finally, “My greatest love, you have come back to us!”

“Yes, Mother I have.  Though I’m not sure how.  Nor am I sure why Peggy seems younger as well.”

“Hmm.  Perhaps it’s best not to examine a gift from the gods too closely,” Hippolyta said with an inscrutable look.

“As you wish, Mother.”

“Well, I for one would like to know,” Andrea said.

Hippolyta turned her head and regarded her grandchild.  “Sweet one, when something this wonderful happens, it’s best not to insist that it make sense.  The gods might see that as an insult, and I for one hold your mother too precious to chance that.”

“But, Ta Ta.”

Hippolyta sighed.  “You were in the baths?”

“Yes,” Peggy answered.

Hippolyta looked at Diana then back to Peggy.  “What was happening?”

“I was...I was saying goodbye,” Peggy stammered.  “I kissed her, one last time, and she kissed me back.”

“Oh, misí kardiá mou,” Diana brought Peggy’s hand to her lips and kissed it, “I’m so sorry.”  They stared into one another’s eyes as if they were the only ones in the room.

“You were in the water with her?”

Peggy turned her attention back to Hippolyta.  “Yes.”

“Were you...were you crying?”

“I was sobbing.”

Hippolyta smiled.  Andrea looked offended on Peggy’s behalf.  Hippolyta held up her hands.  “I take no pleasure in it.  I merely think I know what happened.  The goddess Artemis has been known to heal our warriors.  She was a hunter surrounded only by women in some legends, and in some she loses her lover Orion.  I believe that either she or Aphrodite healed Diana and reversed the effects of age on Peggy.  Possibly, both goddesses helped.  I do not know.  I know that whatever happened to Diana was strong enough to affect Peggy as well.

“However, as an old Phoenician trader I used to know would tell me about the dance of the seven veils…’Do not worry how it is happening.  Just praise the gods that it is,’ and that is exactly what I plan to do.”

“I want one of the healers to examine them just to make sure,” Andrea said.

“I will make it so,” Hippolyta said and left the room to speak with one of the guards in the hallway.

Peggy turned to Andrea, “You haven’t called me ‘Mummie’ in a very long time.”

Andrea walked up to Peggy and touched her hair.  “I’m sorry.  It just slipped out.  You look like you did when I was little.”

“Don’t worry, my little love.  I liked it very much.”

Andrea’s smile was blinding.

“And you called me ‘Mama,’” Diana beamed.

“I did.  You still look the same though.  You always have.  I guess I was just caught up in the moment.”

“Well, it was nice.  It reminded me of many things,” Diana said.

Miranda finally spoke, “I must admit, it was not hard to imagine a very young Andrea running to meet her mothers.”

“Miranda, you must think us so rude,” Peggy said.

“Not at all.  You all have been quite busy,” Miranda said and there were hums of acknowledgement.  “I had no frame of reference for the past few days before this.  Now a resurrection.  Tell me, do you turn water into wine as well?”  Miranda arched a perfect eyebrow at Diana.

Diana smiled broadly, “Miranda, where do you think Amazon wine comes from in the first place?”

Miranda looked gobsmacked and Andy couldn’t hold back her laugh.  “She’s kidding, Miranda.  She’s kidding.”

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassidy and Caroline Priestly and the Island of Ridiculously Good Looking Women

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Folks, this is the end of this little story. I have some more written in this universe and may post it one day but this is it for now. I hope you like this last little piece of this story. The chapter title is what I'd call this if it were a Harry Potter book.
> 
> Thank you all so, so much for all the kudos and reviews!

Andrea was in the bathroom soaking in the tub trying to recover from yesterday’s physical and emotional upheaval.  And truth be told, there was quite the celebration last night that had included everyone in the room during Diana’s reveal, Tony Stark, Captain Rogers and all the Amazons.  Out of a sense of self-preservation, Miranda abstained.  So she was up rather earlier than the rest of the island and had just finished breakfast on the balcony and was on her second cup of coffee when a shadow fell over her.

Cassidy and Caroline started speaking before Kara landed. “Mom!  You didn’t tell us you knew Supergirl!”  That was Caroline, the emotional one.

“Where are we?”  That was Cassidy, always the pragmatic one.  This was said as Kara touched down on the balcony.

“I did not know her until very recently.”  Miranda looked into Kara’s eyes and realized no one had told her the news.  She would need to rectify that without the girls present.

“Mom! You look amazing!  Is that why you’re here?  Some kind of super-spa-rejuvenation thing?”

“Oh my God, you do!  You look fantastic!  Are you doing a feature for Runway?”

“Girls, girls, breathe.  One question at a time.  Thank you, no, thank you and no.”  She hugged her girls and said, “There’s more breakfast in the kitchen if you’d like to get something to eat.  Perhaps Supergirl will stay for breakfast too.  I’ll explain everything after you eat.”

“Cool!”

“Thanks, Supergirl!”

After they were out of earshot Miranda said, “Diana is alive.”

“What?  How?”

“We’re not sure but she is.  Queen Hippolyta said that it might be one of the goddesses who healed her but she was...theorizing as much as anything else.”

“I was shocked when they told me she was dead.  I’m pretty sure she’s a god.”

“Be that as it may, she was dead for a time.”

“Well, I can slow my heart rate down so much I appear dead.  Maybe her body just needed a chance to heal.”

“Hippolyta mentioned the intervention of Artemis or Aphrodite.”

“Very old, very powerful goddesses here.”

“You know of them?”

“I know many things about Earth.  Krypton was very advanced technologically and my parents included learning modules for my journey and then for when I was on Earth taking care of Kal-El.  I had to have as much information as possible.  Unfortunately, that didn’t work out and I learned everything in space.”

“How long were you in space?”

“About 25 earth years.  Kal-El was a baby when he left.  I didn’t age in the phantom zone; I stayed thirteen.”

“You were awake all that time?”

“In and out of stasis.  Mostly in, but there were times...I don’t like tight spaces,” Kara answered.  Miranda was very glad she had long ago perfected a noncommittal look of vague interest to hide her reaction of shock.  Kara shrugged and continued, “it wasn’t that bad.  I learned a lot.”  She looked uncomfortable.

Miranda wanted to comfort her, a feeling she usually only felt toward her girls or Andrea.  She decided deflection was the best tactic.  “Hmm...tell me something I don’t know about Earth.  Did your education cover fashion?”

Kara smiled.  “I’m not stupid enough to try and best Miranda Priestly in Earth fashion knowledge.  I will tell you what I know about Kryptonian fashion though.”

“I think that would be fascinating.”

“Speaking of Kryptonians, I need to call Kal and let him know about Diana.”

Just then Andrea walked onto the balcony dressed in one of the casual dresses that were common on the island, towel drying her hair.  “Oh wow, you’re back.  Where are the girls?”

“I needed to tell Kara about Diana’s miraculous recovery without them overhearing.  They’ve spent so much time with you that food was the best distraction.  I believe they’re in the kitchen.”

Andrea shot her best glare at Miranda.  The twinkle in her eyes was unmistakable though.  “Funny, I don’t remember you complaining about my shape since before Harry Potter.”

Miranda rolled her eyes, “We’re back to this are we?”

“You called me ‘the smart fat girl!’”

“Darling, I’m not justifying that with a response.  You know why I said what I said then, and my intimate feelings about your body now.”

Andrea smiled.  “You bet I do.”  Then she took Miranda in her arms and kissed her passionately.  The kiss went on for long enough that Kara was contemplating using her superspeed to get away when the twins came back onto the balcony.

“Oh gross!  C’mon guys!”

“You’re literally the worst.”

“You promised! No more making out in public spaces.”

Miranda pulled away, her arms still around Andrea, looked over her shoulder and arched her eyebrows at her daughters.  “Bobbsies, I’m afraid this is something you’re just going to have to grin and bear.  I will never give up showing affection to Andrea whenever I want.”

Caroline rolled her eyes just like her mother.  “If it wasn’t so emotionally scarring it would be sweet-”

“-and romantic,” Cassidy finished.

“Really, girls I’d hardly call love of a demonstrative sort scarring,” Miranda retorted.

“I don’t know, Miranda.  I walked in on my parents this week and I can tell you, it was plenty emotionally scarring.”

“They must have a very…” Miranda started.

“Yep.  They do.  Like teenagers...I mean like rabbits.  Yep.  Teenagers wouldn’t do that, not in this day and age and…”

Miranda coughed.

“Shutting up now.”

“I think it’s best,” Miranda said and hated just a tiny bit that she thought embarrassed Andrea was utterly adorable.  She absolutely would not have even remotely tolerated it from anyone else and here she was - besotted.  She almost rolled her eyes at herself.

Cassidy couldn’t help but ask, “What exactly were they doing?”

“‘In flagrante delicto’ is probably the most polite way to say it,” Andrea replied.

“What does that…” Caroline began.

“I have no idea why I pay those outrageous tutions.  It’s latin and Andrea is using it to mean in the midst of sexual activity,” Miranda said as she stepped away out of the circle of Andrea’s arms.

Andrea shuddered at the memory.

“See!  See!  It’s gross isn’t it?” Cassidy said pointing.

“I mean she’s not wrong,” Andrea shrugged.

“Honestly, you all act like I’m going to strip Andrea here in a public area and have my way with her,” Miranda said and was pleased to notice that Andrea’s eyes dilated with lust.

Caroline made a retching noise.

Miranda narrowed her eyes at her youngest by four minutes. “Enough of that.  What must Supergirl think of us?”

“Supergirl is pretending like she’s not here but in the kitchen with the food,” Kara replied.

“Please, I’m so sorry.  Help yourself,” Miranda said and gestured for Kara to move toward the kitchen.

Kara smiled and asked, “Girls, what was good?”

“Oh, we haven’t finished yet.  We just came to see what was taking you all so long,” Caroline said.

“Your mother and Andy started talking about one thing and then they were kissing.”

“That happens.  A lot,” said Cassidy.

“They tease each other about something neither of them is really mad about and then they make up.  They do it just so they can make up.  It’s-” Caroline began.

“While I’m sure this is going to be enlightening, perhaps the two of you can take Supergirl into the kitchen before she gets faint with hunger,” Miranda instructed.

“Gah...okay,” Caroline exclaimed while walking into the kitchen with Cassidy and Kara trailing behind.

Once they were gone Andrea said, “You can’t just keep calling her Supergirl in front of the twins.”

“Darling, it’s not my secret to tell.  They are going to know about your family history soon enough. If Ms. Danvers feels the urge to share that with them then that is her decision, not mine.”

“Oh yeah.  When is it?”

“A royal herald was here this morning while you were in the bath.  We’re having lunch at one in the palace.  There’s also to be a ceremony this evening and formal dress was requested for that.”

“Wow.  Ta Ta must mean to have…” Andrea closed her eyes and threw her head back.  “It’s Tuesday.  It’s Mum’s birthday.  Mother must be so pleased.  She’s finally going to have a surprise party that Mum will never see coming.”  Her smile was blinding.

 

o0o

 

 

Breakfast took much longer than Andy thought it would have.  Mostly because after Kara contacted Kal to let him know Diana wasn’t dead, the girls kept asking her to do “super” things.  Levitate.  Pick up the entire table with one hand.  Light candles with her heat vision.  Finally, Miranda put her foot down.  “That’s enough.  Supergirl is not here for your amusement.  Neither is she a trained monkey who does tricks on command.  I’m sure you both want to look your best for lunch.  So go and change into something that doesn’t look like your flew here in it.”

“Sorry,” was echoed from downcast faces.”

“It’s okay.  I would have let you know if I wasn’t having fun.”

They both looked at her hopeful that they had not offended their new friend.  “You mean it?” Cassidy said.

“Of course.  Now you better go get changed.  The palace is a pretty big deal.”

Caroline asked, “Palace?”

“Mom, you never told us what this place is.”

Andy jumped in, “This is my home.  This is where I grew up.  I want you both to meet the rest of my family.”

“Are you a princess if there’s a palace?” Cassidy said.

“Uh, my mother is the princess but yeah I’m after her.”

The twins exchanged a look then Caroline said, “Are you pulling our leg?  Is this for real?”

“Not pulling your leg.  Yes, this is for real.”

Cassidy asked, “And Mom’s beauty regimen that makes her look like she’s in her thirties?”

“Part of the healing waters on the island.”

“Where are we?”

“Themyscira, or Paradise Island, if you prefer.”

“Caroline, Cassidy go freshen up and get ready.  Andrea and I need to dress also.  We can talk about this more after we get to the palace.  I don’t want to be late.”

 

 

o0o

 

 

Andy should have known that getting three Priestly women ready to visit a palace would have taken an inordinately long time.  Miranda had had to resort to threatening loss of technology to get the girls moving.  As they entered the south salon, a more casual room for family entertaining, she heard the daughters of her heart whispering behind her.

“Like, have you looked around, Cass?  This is, like, the land of ridiculously good-looking women.”

Andy heard Kara snort from further behind them.

Cass said something she didn’t catch but she heard Caroline’s exasperated, “Shut up.”

She turned with the intention of breaking them up but Kara was already there between them her arms over their shoulders.  “Did you two know I have a sister?”

They shook their heads.  Andy felt Miranda gently take her hand and lead her toward the dining table.  Miranda leaned close and said, “Let her handle this one.  I have my suspicions.  I think an outside influence would be welcomed.”  Andy nodded once in agreement.

Kara continued, “She hated me when she first met me.”

“Met you?” Caroline said.

“Her family adopted me.  They are friends with my cousin Kal and he asked them to take me in.”

“Kal?”

Kara smiled.  “You know him as Superman.”

“Oh wow.  So, you haven’t always been Supergirl?”  Cassidy said.

“No.  My adoptive family raised me and encouraged me not to use my powers.”

“Why?” Caroline said.

“They were afraid - for a lot of good reasons, but they were afraid.  My sister, she resented me but after a while we were inseparable.  She’s my very best friend.  She knows all my secrets, but we still pick on each other.  I don’t think sisters can really help it.”

“Yeah,” Cassidy sighed.

“Like just a little while back my sister realized she was gay, and I had no problem with it whatsoever.  On Krypton sexual orientation wasn’t a big deal because science had taken over a lot of...well, anyway it wasn’t a big deal.  But I still picked on her.  I think I hurt her feelings.  I didn’t mean to.  I mean, I’m in love with a woman; I’d be the biggest hypocrite.”

“You’re...gay,” Caroline said tentatively.

“Hmm...I haven’t really thought about that, only who I fell in love with.”

“Doesn’t that mean you’re gay or bisexual at least?”

“There are a lot of layers to it.  My friend Lucy has all the...terminology?  Like I said, on Krypton, it didn’t matter.  Feelings of...sexual attraction were seen as normal but somewhat uncommon.”

“Uncommon?”

“Uh...Andy?” Kara said as she and the twins approached the table.

Andy hid her smirk by biting her cheek.  “From what Kara has told me, physical relationships on Krypton were only entered into in a formal way, like in a committed relationship.  Science, knowledge and mutual respect were much more common factors for building relationships.”

“That sounds boring,” Cassidy said.

“My parents seemed happy enough but they were pretty...unconventional,” Kara hedged.

Caroline asked, “Did you date boys on Krypton?”

“I wasn’t old enough, but dating on Krypton was formal too, like betrothed kind of formal.  Marriages among powerful families were arranged.”

Cassidy asked, “Was your family powerful?”

“Yes.  Very.”  Kara smiled sadly.

“Like mom in fashion?”

Kara laughed.  “Not quite that powerful.”

Before Kara could respond anymore Steve and Peggy walked in.  Andy saw Cassidy look at Caroline and mouth _Sorry._  Andy smiled.

Peggy said, “Andrea, introduce us to your family.”

Kara moved and Andy stepped between the girls.  Miranda walked to stand beside Caroline.  “Mum, this is Caroline and this is Cassidy,” Andy said touching each of them on the shoulder in turn.  “This is my mum - Peggy, and this is my,” she only hesitated a moment, “father - Steve.”

“You look just like that guy that was loose in Times Square,” Cassidy said.

“Loose...hmm, that’s certainly one way to put it,” Peggy said archly.  

Steve smiled.  “I would have gotten further if-”

Steve was interrupted by Hippolyta and her entourage walking through the doors.  Hippolyta was in a golden dress that, while not formal, spoke to her station.  Her guards were wearing  their standard uniform but the greaves had been polished and sparkled just enough to denote this as a special occasion.  Diana walked beside Hippolyta in all white.  She was almost glowing.

Caroline murmured, “Holy shit.”  Her mouth hanging open afterwards.

Miranda reached over with two fingers and shut it discreetly, smirking the entire time.

Andy stood up straighter.  “Girls, this is Hippolyta, my grandmother and Queen of the Amazons.”

The girls shot Andy a nervous look.  Cassidy whispered, “Do we curtsey?”

Andy threw her head back and laughed.  “No.  No curtseying is necessary.”

Caroline then asked Peggy, “So you’re the Princess of the Amazons then?”

Diana didn’t quite cover her laughter by coughing behind her hand.  Peggy turned and glowered at her.  Then she spoke to the twins.  “Heavens no.  I’m from England.”

Diana stepped up to them.  “I am Diana, daughter of Hippolyta, and Princess of the Amazons.  I am very pleased to meet you.  Andy has told us so much about you.”

“Wait.  Wait.  You’re her father.” Caroline pointed at Steve.  He nodded.

“And you’re her mother.” Cassidy pointed at Peggy.  

“Yes,” Peggy replied.

“But then you’re the princess.” Caroline pointed at Diana.

“I am,” Diana said.

Miranda spoke, “Girls, Peggy is Andrea’s ‘mum’ and Diana is her ‘mother.’  She only recently met her father.  Peggy and Diana raised her here on Themyscira.”

Cassidy said, “So when you said you walked in on your parents-”

“You were talking about them?” Caroline finished pointing between Peggy and Diana.

Peggy actually blushed.

Diana walked up and held Peggy’s hand.  She said, “Unfortunately, Andy didn’t remember to knock.”

“I was a little worried that Miranda might die from alcohol poisoning!”

“Ahem, enough of that,” Miranda said sternly.

“So you were raised here on this island of ridiculously good-looking women by two women who look like they’re your age, who still have sex frequently enough that you still walk in on them?” Caroline said.

“Ridiculously good-looking?” Andy couldn’t help herself.

“You know what I mean!”

“Yes.  I was raised by them here.”

Cassidy asked, “Are you the guy from Times Square?”

“I am.”

“They said he was Captain America and hadn’t been seen since World War II.  How is that possible?”

Andy answered, “Girls, let’s sit down and talk over lunch.  There’s a lot to cover.”

Tony walked in then and said, “What’d I miss?”

Caroline said, “You’re Tony Stark!”

“Yep,” he replied and smiled.

In fits and starts with everyone but the twins taking a turn they told the story.  The twins were fascinated by the parallels of the two Steves in Diana, then Peggy’s lives.  And even though they were shocked that Andy was older than their mother they took it in stride.  Steve was delighted to hear stories of Andy growing up and asked almost as many questions as the twins.  Even Tony told a few stories about “Aunt Peggy”.

Both Cassidy and Caroline were fascinated and warmed up to all the new adults in their lives in record time.  Hippolyta had made mention of a story involving a knife throwing incident and nothing would do but a demonstration.  So Hippolyta and Diana got up from the table, a safe distance away so that the table was out of the line of fire.  Diana was standing with an apple in her mouth, one on her head and one in each hand.

Miranda asked, “Darling, is this safe?”

“Feel free to tell the Queen of the Amazons you doubt her abilities,” Andy said grinning.

Miranda took a deep breath.  “I see your point.”

Hippolyta had gathered knives from all her guards.  “Where was I,” she asked.

“You and your sister had just bested the eight Spartans in lots and they were sore,” Caroline said practically bouncing up and down in her seat.

“Just so, yes.  So I said, ‘Iosas, you son of a-”

Diana cleared her throat.

“-dog.  We won fair and square.’ He replied that he would see Antiope and me in slavery before he paid us even one silver drachma.  He said, “Hippolyta, you-”

Diana cleared her throat again.

Hippolyta rolled her eyes.  “-cheating wench.  I’ll have you and your sister for myself and then sell you to the Persians.”

Andy cleared her throat then.

“Who’s telling this story,” Hippolyta asked Andy and glowered.

“You are Ta Ta, but perhaps not all of it needs telling at the moment.”  Andy glanced in the twins’ direction.

“As you wish,” she said and in a lightning fast move she threw three knives, each of which speared an apple, from Diana’s hands and head.  Diana turned to the side and Hippolyta threw the last knife which stuck in the apple clenched in Diana’s teeth.  Diana bit it and took it out of her mouth.  She handed the knife from within it to Astrea.  The other guards all each retrieved their own knives from the wall.

The twins were delighted and clapped enthusiastically.  “Yay!  That was great…”  They looked at each other and then Hippolyta.  Cassidy asked, “What should we call you?”

Hippolyta tilted her head then looked to Andy who nodded.  “Call me Ta Ta, as Andy does.”

“Okay, Ta Ta,” Caroline giggled.

“What about the rest of you?” Cassidy said.

Diana walked over and lightly put her hand on the girl’s head.  “You may call me anything you wish.”

“You’re Andy’s mother, not mum right,” Caroline asked.

“Yes.  Andy calls me Mother.”

The twins looked at one another and Cassidy said for the both of them, “Would it be okay if we called you Grandmother?”

“I would like that very, very much.”

Caroline turned to Peggy and Steve, “And could we call you Grandmum and Granddad?”

Steve pressed his lips together, blinked his eyes and just nodded.  Peggy said, “I can think of nothing that would make me happier.”

The twins turned to Tony and Tony spoke first heading off any questions.  “How about ‘Uncle Tony’?”

“Okay,” they answered in unison

Then they looked at Kara.  Cassidy asked, “Should we just keep calling you Supergirl?”

“I read Catco named you.  I’m sure you have some other name but we don’t have to know it, but like it’s weird when people who can’t tell us apart call us ‘twin.’  I hate that  you know?  Sometimes all I want is to hear my name and be me.  But you don’t have to tell us,” Caroline said.

Kara swallowed and said with tears in her eyes.  “Kara.  My name is Kara.”

“That’s pretty,” Cassidy said.

Andy leaned into a teary eyed Miranda.  “You did good, honey.”

Miranda linked her hand in Andy’s.  “You’ve given them a family, darling.  I can never thank you enough for this, for all of this.”

“Miranda, you and the girls?  You’re all the thanks I need.  I get to have all of you at the same time.  I feel whole for the first time in a long time.  I have my entire family here in one place.  I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”

“Give me time, darling.  I’ll think of something,” Miranda said and winked.

Andy’s heart felt like it would burst.  She grinned.  Miranda did always reach for the stars.

 

o0o

 

 


End file.
